Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
by dgrayfee
Summary: After their twelfth birthday, people begin to discover their Soul Links: ways in which they can identify their soulmate. For some, this day can't come soon enough. But for Annabeth Chase, she dreads the day her Soul Link will appear, especially when it comes in the form of electric blue hair! Soulmate AU for Phantom Phoenix as part of the Feast of Fortuna 2017, focuses on Percabeth
1. I've got a what?

**Just a quick authors note, this story was written for Phoenix Phantom on Tumblr as part of the Feast of Fortuna gift exchange. It was mean to be an approximately 1,500 word one-shot, however once I had my idea I went too far with it. So now I have to upload as I write it unfortunately, so to you Phantom, I sincerely apologise for this. Additionally, there are going to be some age changes to make the story fit, specifically Piper and Jason will be the same age as Percy and Annabeth. This is a Soulmate AU which focuses on Percabeth, but most other characters will feature in the story somewhere along the lines. But for now, thanks for your time, and I hope you enjoy.**

If Annabeth didn't like the idea of soulmates before, she definitely hated them now. She'd watched her dad deal with the loss of her mother, his first soulmate, for years, and don't get her started on her stepmother. Yet even the woman who'd pushed her to run away from home at age seven paled in comparison to what her soulmate had done. It didn't help that Jason was standing over her shoulder, trying to be sympathetic but failing miserably as his scarred lip twitched, fighting away the inevitable smile. She can't blame him, because staring back at her in the mirror was her eyes, her face, her body, but it was most certainly _not_ her hair. Her hair was a tangled mess of blonde curls pulled back smartly in a ponytail, and whilst she wasn't the biggest fan of the colour (it invited too many jokes and questions about her intelligence), at least she could pass it off as professional. What she could not get away with was the vibrant, electric blue ringlets reflected back in the mirror.

She opened her mouth once, twice, _three_ times to say something, however the best she could do was squeak. That was all it took for Jason, who burst into loud laughter which was sure to attract even more attention than she'd already gained in her homeroom. She glared at him through the mirror, hoping it'd shut him up.

Eventually, he sobered. "Sorry Annabeth, but you've got to admit, it's kinda funny. Your hair must be your Soul Link."  
"Why did it have to be hair?" she whined. "Why couldn't I be like the majority and just have a tattoo or a timer? I'd even take your skin thing over this! How am I meant to face anyone with _this_?" she pulled a handful of hair to emphasise her point.

"You should feel honoured Annabeth, you know what a weird link means, it means you have a stronger bond than the average soulmate."

"I just wish it wasn't something so obvious? What if it never goes back, what if I'm stuck with blue hair forever? No one will ever take me seriously!"

"Annabeth, you need to calm down. It's probably like my Soul Link, it'll fade in a couple of hours, I'm sure of it."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. It'll go away. It _has_ to." Annabeth sighed a heavy sigh and turned to face her best friend, "I just wish I could've been born without one, you know? No Soul Link means no soulmate, which means no troubles and no pain."

"Hey, having a soul mate is great! You've just had bad experiences with 'em, you know, with your mum leaving and your stepmum being Tartarus spawn. And don't even get me started on the whole Thalia-Luke thing. But look at Piper and me, we live on opposite sides of the country and yet we still make it work. Soulmates can be great Annabeth, I just wish you'd give them a chance."

"Thank you for that lovely reminder Jason, I feel so much better," the girl deadpanned. Jason cringed.

"Sorry, but I stand by my point. Now come on, you can't hide for the rest of the day, let's just head straight to English, homeroom must be nearly finished."

Annabeth turned to the mirror and sighed once more. "Yeah alright, let's get this over and done with." She began to exit the girl's bathroom they'd been hiding in when she noticed he wasn't following, but instead furiously scribbling on his forearm with a sharpie. "Really Jason, can't you leave my humiliation between just us for once, I'd rather Piper kept her image of me to a respectable blonde thank you very much."  
Jason looked like a kicked puppy. "Come on Annabeth, we tell each other everything! Plus you know she's mad for this soulmate thing. She'll be even more excited than me for this day to come."  
"Ugh fine! You can tell her about it, but there's no way she's getting pictures." With that, she strode purposefully into the corridor towards their first class, with Jason trailing behind her, signing off his message to his soulmate with two x's and letting his arm drop.

"Man, Piper's not going to know what to do," Jason said with a chuckle.

 **#**

"Piper, what did you do?" Percy yelled into the phone, his voice cracking in panic.

"What are you talking about?"

"My hair! I wanted a nice shade of Gabe-is-finally-out-of-our-lives blue, not a buzzcut!"

"I didn't give you a buzzcut, you know that! All I did was dye your hair!"

"Well obviously you've done something wrong, 'cause my hair is gone!"

"I didn't do anything wrong, I used the same stuff I always have, _my_ hair has always been fine. Maybe there's something wrong with your head!"

"There's nothing wrong with my head!"

"I beg to differ."  
"Piper!" Percy groaned, "You're not helping!"  
"Look, it's too late to be dealing with this, let's go into school early tomorrow and we can talk about it then," she suggested.

"Fine, but you owe me a weeks' worth of lunches for this McLean."  
"I still stand by my theory, your head is the issue, not my amazing dyeing skills."

"I'm going to be the bigger man and ignore that comment. I'll see you tomorrow Pipes."

Piper's tone softened, "Yeah okay Perce, see you. Wait, before you go Percy!"

Percy's finger stopped over the end call button, before he brought the phone back to his ear, "Yeah?"

"If it was my fault, well… I'm sorry. But it wasn't, it was your head I swear!"

Percy cracked a smile for the first time since he'd gone to brush his teeth and noticed his dilemma. "Whatever you say Pipes."

"Damn straight," his friend replied, before she quickly hung up the phone.

Percy looked down at the phone, "Always have to have the last word, don't you?" he said. Percy placed the phone back in its socket and turned back to finish getting ready for bed, only to be confronted by his mum standing in the doorway, grinning widely. Percy's stopped, like a deer caught in some headlights, "I can explain".

His mother laughed, "It's okay Percy, I heard the whole conversation. And before you start blaming Piper, remember she's been dyeing her hair to get her father's attention for years, she's a pro by now."

"So you're saying it _is_ my head's fault?"

"Not necessarily," she replied.

"Then what could it possibly be?" he yelled.

"Percy, how old are you?"

"Mum, I'm twelve, how could you forge – ooooohhh."

"Yeeeeaaaaahhh," Sally smiled a broad smile, which Percy began to match.

"This is so cool! I've finally got my Soul Link!"

"Well… it could still be your head, you never know."

"Nope, I refuse to believe that. I want a cool Soul Link like Piper and I am going to take this one with both hands and run with it far away from your non-believer ways!"

Sally smiled a soft, sad smile down at her son. "You know, that's the first time I've heard you get excited over soulmates since you were eight."

Percy looked down at his feet. "Yeah well, Gabe didn't really give me much hope, did he? But it's all good now, he was a fraud and he's now rotting in jail for everything he did to us." He looked up at his mum and smiled.

Sally wrapped her son up in a hug, "Don't think I don't know a fake smile when I see one."

Percy relaxed into the embrace, "Yeah yeah, you're Supermom, I know."

"Oh, so I'm Supermom now huh? Does that mean you'll start cleaning your room in fear of my powers?"

"Woah woah woah! Let's not get ridiculous, how about we start with some eternal love and we'll work from there?"

"You drive a hard bargain Perseus Jackson. How about eternal love and you start bringing Piper around more? Her house is much too big to be home alone, and there is no reason now to not bring her."

"There's a perfectly good reason, she takes my cookies!"

Sally rolled her eyes, "You do realise I cooked a double batch when she was coming over, so you actually got more cookies."

"Well why didn't you say so earlier?" he yelled excitedly, before springing to the phone and picking it up. "Yeah, uhuh, uhuh, sure that works, okay see you then!" He replaced the phone and turned to his mother with a troublemaker smirk. "So that was Piper, she says she's going to be coming around every day for the rest of the time I live with you so I guess you better get cooking because you wouldn't want to be rude to a guest you know?

"Oh really? Well someone who comes around that often can't possibly be a guest, which means she must be a Jackson. And if she's a Jackson, that means she shares the Jackson plate of cookies."

"Oh, would you look at that, the phone's ringing again." He picked up the device, which had remained silent all evening, and repeated his fake conversation, before returning it once more. "So that was Piper again, and gosh, has her schedule filled up. She says she's only going to be able to come around enough times to keep her status as a guest, but it will still be a lot so you better have some cookies ready just in case."

"Oh well isn't that convenient? You know it's a good thing I stopped considering her a guest and started thinking of her as my daughter when she was five, otherwise I'd have to spend _so_ much money on these cookies." Before Percy could reply, she cut him off. "As much as I enjoy this Percy, it's eleven o'clock, you need to go to bed now mister. I struggle to get you out of bed as it is, without throwing in late nights too."

"But we were having so much fun, we're bonding! You wouldn't deny a son some wonderful mother-son bonding time, would you?"

"I would if it effects your schooling."

"You are a harsh, harsh lady Sally Jackson, I don't know if I will ever recover from this brutal rejection."

"You will if you want any more cookies."

Percy forced a fake yawn. "Oh, would you look at that, I feel so tired all of a sudden, I guess I'll have to go to bed." He gave his mother a chaste kiss on the cheek, "Night Mom, love you."

"Love you too sweetie, remember to brush your teeth."  
"Uuuugghh," the boy groaned as he walked down the hallway.

 **#**


	2. The name's Spears, Annabeth Spears

**Whoops, something I forgot to do last time:**

 **Disclaimer: Any characters or brands you recognise do not belong to me but to Rick Riordan or their respective owners. I own nothing but the plot.**

 **Thanks to all who read the last chapter, I hope this one doesn't disappoint you!**

 **Edit: I spelled Blofis wrong, I'm sorry, that's fixed now.**

"No! Your hair is _still_ blue? But it's been 24 hours!" Jason's cry echoed through the hallway.

"Um, not exactly Jace," Annabeth replied.

"Then what's with the Yankees cap? Speaking of, why on earth do you support the Yankees?"

"They're my mother's team, she gave it to me for my birthday. But I need it to hide my hair."

"Why? I thought you said it's not blue anymore?"

Annabeth looked up and down the corridor before pulling Jason into an empty classroom and yanking off her cap. Instead of her long, blonde curls, or even blue ringlets, she had short, blonde stubble. Jason stared in horror.

"Oh my god Annabeth, I'm so sorry! What does your soul mate think they're doing?"

"It… wasn't my soul mate."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I was panicking! My stepmom ripped into me for my hair and it just wasn't changing back and I didn't know what else to do so I kinda… cut it all off. This is why we shouldn't have soulmates, they make you crazy!"

"Annabeth, you need to calm down okay? This soulmate thing is only a big deal if you let it. You need to stop and breathe. Where's the Annabeth Chase I know, the one who always has a plan, and a backup plan, and a backup backup plan, and a –"

"Okay I get it. I wasn't thinking. It's just… how on Earth am I meant to be taken seriously with _blue_ hair? What kind of… of… _seaweed brain_ dyes their hair blue? Why did I have to get a complete idiot for a soulmate?

"Seaweed brain? That's the best insult you could come up with?"

"Leave me alone Jason, I've gone full '07 Britney in the last 24 hours, let me have this one."

"Okay fine. Let's go through everything that's happened. You first noticed your hair was blue when?"

"Yesterday just before homeroom, you know that Jason."

"Okay, so at about 8am. Do you know when it turned back to blonde?"

"I don't know, I shaved my head just after seven, and then I stopped checking my reflection. I woke up and it was back to normal."

"Okay, so we know it lasts over eleven hours but less than twenty-two."

"Yeah, okay, but I don't see how this is important Jason, my hair is still short and I still have a gods-damned soulmate."

"It's important because we can make a plan for next time. We know roughly the time it lasts, so there will be no need for such drastic measures," Jason said reassuringly.

"What if it's not time based? What if I need to sleep it off? What if –"

"Easy Annabeth, let's just stop for a moment. Stop thinking about this as a soulmate thing, and start thinking of it as a… as a scientific experiment! We have some other hypotheses to test out, but we'll work it out. Let's just stay calm okay?"

"Yeah… yeah I like that idea."

"Alright, now slap that cap back on before Octavian sees your hair. I think the only thing worse than blue jokes would be bald jokes from him."

"Ugh, don't remind me. I hope he finds his soulmate soon, maybe that'll put a stop to his consistent hate on them."

Jason gasped, "Annabeth Chase, have you joined the light side already?"

"What, no! It's just I have a soul link which is rather obvious, therefore I'm gonna be a target. He annoys me enough as it is without adding soulmates to his artillery."

"Nah, I don't buy that, I reckon you're already growing fond of your soulmate," Jason cheekily replied.

"Jason, I cut off all my hair to remove any trace of my soulmate, please tell me how any of that tells you I'm 'growing fond'?"

"Annabeth, de-Nile needs to stay in Africa. Admit it, you like the thought of having a soulmate."

"You're impossible. You need to stop spending so much time talking to Piper, the Jason Grace from six months ago would never have said something so sappy."

"Okay, I admit Piper is having an influence on me, but that's not a bad thing! I was in the same boat as you, I'd only ever seen the bad examples of soulmates, but you can't say Piper isn't amazing."

"Maybe for you, I've never spoken to the girl."

"You can if you want to, I don't mind if you wanna write on my arm."

"Sure, maybe I could tell her about the stapler."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Well if you keep harping on about soulmates and making me rush to class, I might be tempted into doing so. Now come on, we've got to get to homeroom. It's the only class Blofis takes that's actually enjoyable. Why does such a good teacher have to teach English of all things?" Annabeth made her way to the door as she spoke, readjusting her cap.

"Soulmates can be great Chase, just you wait and see!"

#

"Your soulmate is great," Piper said between laughs as Percy showed her his hair.

"You could be a little more sympathetic you know," Percy whined.

"I could, but you're almost bald and that's too much to handle. You deserve it you know, you probably turned their hair blue," the Cherokee girl reasoned cheekily, her kaleidoscope eyes alive with a brilliant blue in her delight.

"Well that's not my fault! How was I supposed to know I had voodoo hair?"

"I don't know why you're complaining Percy, I think you look sharp," said Grover - Percy's other best friend, a boy who'd been on crutches for as long as Percy had known him due to a muscular disease in his legs - before he and Piper cracked up once more.

"Oh ha ha, everyone's suddenly a comedian," Percy grumbled as he replaced his beanie. "Remind me why I'm friends with you guys again?"

"Because we're the only ones La Rue can't scare away," replied Piper.

"Ugh don't remind me," said Percy.

"It was your own fault Percy," said Grover, "you could've been fine without them ever bothering you."

"I wasn't just about to let them bully you without anyone saying anything. Besides, Clarisse has hated me since the moment I entered the school."

"That's 'cause you said she smelled!" Grover cried.

"Well it wasn't a lie!"

"That doesn't make it okay Perce!"

"Grover, how can you of all people defend her?" Percy asked.

"I'm not, I'm just saying you didn't help the situation, there wasn't a need to start something with her."

"Grover, you were shoulder deep in a toilet when he found you," reasoned Piper.

"Yes, but they hadn't tried to hide my crutches up until that point, so I chalk that up as a win."

Percy opened his mouth to fire another remark when he was interrupted.

"Oi Jackson!" A girl larger than Percy in height and build yelled as she walked over to their group. Flanking her were two other girls who in comparison looked petite despite the fact the shortest still stood six inches above Percy.

Percy groaned before turning to Piper, "You did this to us. You mentioned her name and now you've summoned the devil," he whispered furiously. "What do you want Clarisse?" he said in a louder voice.

"I heard your hair is a lovely shade of Smurf vomit, I wanted to see for myself," the bigger girl replied with a cruel laugh.

"I prefer cobalt blue."

Percy winced at Piper's reply, it didn't help his case at all. Piper saw his expression and cringed too. Clarisse cackled with glee, she'd been given a weapon served up on a silver platter. "Oh, I'm _so_ sorry, I didn't realise _Prissy_ was so worried about his hair and what colour it was. You know girls," she smirked to her two goons beside her, "I think his hair looks a little flat, it could really to with a wash don't cha think?"

Percy realised too late they'd placed themselves in a corner with no escape routes. He and Piper immediately placed themselves between Clarisse and Grover, who gave his support via a nervous sound which sounded suspiciously close to a goat's bleat.

"Come now Prissy, we're just making sure your hair really shows off its _cobalt blue_ , wouldn't want anyone mistaking it for Smurf vomit blue, would we?" With that, she and her friends lunged at the trio of smaller middle schoolers. Grover quickly lost his crutches before Piper was restrained by one of Clarisse's entourage, whilst the leader and the other girl overpowered Percy and dragged him to the nearest toilet, scaring away a group of younger students in the process. Percy struggled as best he could, however even on a good day he'd need Lady Luck on his side to overpower Clarisse. Thus it was inevitable that he found his head being forced into a porcelain bowl.

"I think his hair needs a rinse Clarisse," the other girl said as Clarisse let Percy breathe.

"You know, you're absolutely right," she grinned in reply, before forcing Percy back down and flushing the toilet.

Percy held his breath and closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable onslaught of water. Instead the system seemed to rumble all at once, and groans could be heard throughout the entire bathroom. With a small creak, pandemonium broke loose. The entire system in the bathroom ruptured, and a torrent of clean and dirty water mixed together to wash over the three students.

As quickly as it started, it stopped, leaving the three floundering on the floor. Percy was surprisingly the driest of the three, though his hair was still damp. The other two weren't so lucky; both were soaked to the core and smelling worse than ever. Percy thought he'd seen Clarisse angry over the school year with their constant butting of heads, but the look of pure fury he received was by far the worst. Before she could open her mouth to tell him exactly how she felt, an unearthly screech assaulted their ears.

"What on Earth is going on here?" screamed Mrs Dodds, the school's pre-algebra teacher and only person in the world who seemed to hate Percy more than Smelly Gabe.

Without skipping a beat, Clarisse replied, "Percy did it!"

"What?" he screeched in reply, "I didn't do anything!"

"Oh you've really messed up this time honey," Dodd's cackled, "I'll finally be rid of you this time!"

"But I didn't do anything! My head was in the toilet bowl"

"Oh I think you've done more than enough honey, your time here at Yancy is done. Let's take a trip to the principal's office."

"But – "

"Now Jackson!"

"Yes ma'am," Percy said reluctantly, before getting up from the floor and following Mrs Dodds to what he was sure would be his sixth expulsion in as many years. "Mum's gonna kill me," he whispered to himself.

#


	3. Of Awful Names and Rotten Smells

**Thank you to all those who've reviewed thus far, it means the world to me. Hope you enjoy this chapter!  
** **Disclaimer: if you recognise it, it's not mine.**

"I'm going to kill them," Annabeth whispered furiously.

"Annabeth, you can't blame your soulmate, we agreed to wait remember?" Jason replied quietly.

"Well if they didn't dye their hair, I wouldn't have had to cut mine off and people wouldn't be staring now."

"Annabeth that's not fair on them and you know – "

"Mr Grace, whilst Miss Chase's choice of hair style is truly unique, it does not warrant you talking whilst I'm trying to teach," their History teacher called. Jason cringed with guilt, the class roared with laughter and Annabeth glared daggers at the woman.

"I wasn't – " Jason stuttered.

"That's enough Mr Grace! If it doesn't have anything to do with the Civil War, it does not have a place in my classroom!"

"Don't worry Jason, everyone's feeling a little short today, isn't that right Chase?" called Octavian from the back of the room. Just as the class had begun to settle, the boy's comment set them off once more. Annabeth glowered at the blond-haired boy, who's smile dimmed at the sight of her piercing grey eyes. The class was quick to silence themselves at the sight, and Annabeth smirked to herself as she turned back to face the front.

"Yes, thank you Octavian for that wonderful play on words. It's a pity you couldn't use that kind of creativity in your last essay," the teacher said snidely. The class oohed in response, though Annabeth stayed quiet. She'd never been a fan of the education system, there was too big an emphasis placed on test results and not enough on students actually learning and understanding. What made it worse were teachers like the woman who stood at the front of her class, they made sure she never enjoyed her time at school. She may not like Octavian, and she'd be lying if she said he didn't deserve it a bit, but public humiliation about your grades wasn't okay, especially by a teacher. Annabeth sighed, she was too worked up now, she'd never get anything done for the rest of the day. She never had the patience to deal with her ADHD and dyslexia when she was annoyed. So she folded her arms over her chest and stared out the window, thinking this day couldn't get any worse.

She was wrong of course. It was Michael Kahale who noticed first. "Aww what's that smell? That smells worse than Hannibal from the zoo!" The boy's shrill voice broke Annabeth from her stupor, though she wished she'd remained spaced out. As she raised her nose to identify the smell with the rest of the class, she felt icy cold water dripping down the nape of her neck. Soon more began to run down her head from her hair, and try as she might, she could not identify a source. All she could understand was her hair was soaked, and she was the source of the awful smell taking over the room.

The class had been reduced to chaos, and whilst their teacher tried to bring them under control, Annabeth slipped out the doorway and fled to the bathrooms. Gods she was getting sick of spending her time in there, but there's really only one place you can go when your head smells like a sewer. She peered into the mirror and looked at her sopping head.

"Di immortales," she cursed to herself. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry, this was most certainly not the plan. She was going to power through school with Jason there to support her. She was going to get the necessary scholarships and get into an architecture program at college of her choice. She was going to get an internship and then a job with a firm, and work her way to the top. She was going to build something permanent, maybe in New York. Something about New York had always appealed to her. But there was certainly no room for soulmates and magic hair and hiding in bathrooms. However, the plan never accounted sewage hair and idiot soulmates, which meant she was stuck here until she was respectable to go out in public. She sighed once more before turning to find a cubicle she could sit in and attempt to read whilst her hair hopefully stopped smelling. As she moved, the bathroom door opened and two girls walked in.

"- hate his class. Why do we even need algebra-oh my god what is that smell? Can't you smell that? That's awful!" the first girl shrieked!

Annabeth stood in shock as the two girls yelled about the smell and the quality of the school. Before she could gather her thoughts, the girls were gone, and that's when she finally broke. She ran to the closest stall, locked the door and cried. She couldn't understand why everything had gone so wrong so quickly. Some small part of her brain held onto the hope that when nothing appeared out of the ordinary on her twelfth birthday, she didn't have a soulmate. She'd seen the way the soulmate system could destroy lives, she didn't want that. But now her life was spiralling out of control, her reputation would be in tatters after her classmates worked out she was the reason the room smelled. It was all too much for the blonde to handle.

Crying made Annabeth angry; she prided herself in her strength. She was Annabeth freaking Chase, who didn't even cry when she lost Thalia. She stopped crying the day her step-mother told her to grow up and stop lying about the spiders in her room. And yet a soulmate of all things was the reason she came undone.

"Um, hello?" a small voice called out. That was the last straw for the twelve year old. She burst from the cubicle without a second thought.

"What? What do you want? Are you here to laugh at me huh? You wanna make fun of the girl with the stupid hair? You here to ruin my life too? Huh? Well? Answer me!" Annabeth yelled like she'd never yelled before. The small, African-American girl in front of her was in a state of absolute shock. Her large eyes reminded Annabeth of a scolded puppy.

"I-I'm sorry," the girl replied in a small voice, "I just wanted to see if you wanted someone to talk to. I'll just… go."

Annabeth had never felt so guilty as she watched the sweet girl turn and walk towards the door. "Wait!" she called. The smaller girl flinched and faced Annabeth.

"Yes?"

"I'm, er, so-, um, thanks."

The girl smiled, "That's okay. Are you alright?"

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine."

"You sure? Because, no offense, most people don't spend their time crying in bathrooms that smell quite awful," the girl said awkwardly.

"It's not the bathroom that smells," Annabeth said embarrassedly.

"Oh gosh! Is that me? Oh my, I'm so sorry! I had no idea! Oh this is so embarrassing, I have no idea how it happened" the poor girl fanned herself with her hands, and Annabeth was sure if she wasn't going to cry after she yelled at her, this would be the final straw for the smaller girl.

"Hey, no. That's uh, that's me. Well not really, it's my soulmate that smells. They're kinda the reason I'm here in the first place."

"Ooooo soulmate issues? Well, come come, sit down and let's see if we can't work our way through this together." As she said this, the girl slid down one of the walls and sat with her legs outstretched, patting the empty space next to her.

"Wha-no it's fine."

"No way! You've mentioned the magic word soulmates, there's no way I can't know this story now. Besides, you own me for yelling at me," she finished with a wink.

"Okay, fine. But at least give me your name?  
"Oh gosh, where are my manners? My name is Hazel."

#

"Hazelnut Frappuccino for Perseus!" the Starbucks barista called. Percy glared at Piper, who smiled innocently back at him.

" _Perseus_ , isn't that your order?" she said. Percy huffed and collected his coffee from the girl at the counter, thanking her as he did.

"I will never forgive Mom for telling you my real name," he told her as he held the door open for her. They stepped out into the cold New York winter, their chauffer Jane, Piper's dad's secretary, following behind.

"And _I_ will be forever grateful to your mother for telling me it," she replied with a wink, before taking a sip of her coffee.

"You two get along way too easily. It's unsettling."

"Well Perseus my dear friend, that's just something you're going to have to live with."

"Oh for the love of… would you stop calling me Perseus?"

Piper just cackled and skipped ahead. "Come hither Perseus, we have hair chalk to buy!"

"You know, if I didn't get free coffees, I'd leave you to face the wrath of Clarisse by yourself."

"No you wouldn't, you love me too much."

Percy scoffed. "Yeah right."

"Hey! I'm the only reason you're still at school! No one else could've talked Mr D. into keeping you here, just saying," she said.

"You didn't have to give me detention though."

"Yeah well, I had to give him _something_!"

"That something is two weeks of cleaning the toilets!"

"It's character building!"

"You sound like Mr D."

"You look like Mr D."

"Really Piper?" he deadpanned.

"Oh would you look at that, we're here! What a shame, we can't talk about my lame comeback now." Before Percy could reply, she waltzed into the store and walked straight to the aisle with a wide variety of hair chalk.

"You seem to know where you're going."

"I tried hair chalk before I started dying my hair."

"Ah." Percy didn't know what to say to that, he knew her dad and her attempts to get his attention were a sore spot for her.

"So, do you want the stuff you rub in or the spray on stuff?"

"Ummmm… what's easier for you? You're probably gonna be the one to use it."

"Well let's see… oh I'm an idiot!"

"No arguments here, but why do you say that?"

Piper scowled at him, "Do you want my help or not?"

"Of course I do Piper dear, please continue."

"Roll back the sarcasm pal. What I was going to say is hair chalk requires you to put your hair though an iron of some sort, and whilst you have this lovely, skater boy hair, it'd just be really difficult to do. I think we should go with the spray chalk."

"How on earth would you iron hair? Do you have to like, bend down and put your head next to the board?"

"Not a clothes iron you dolt!" Piper laughed, "A hair straightener or curler or something like that!"

"Ooohhhhh, okay."

"You have no idea what that is do you?"

"Not a clue. Now, which one is cheapest? Can we get blue? Or will that not work with the hair?"

"Hey no if we're doing this, we're doing it properly! Let's get a few colours, we could make it really pretty. It's my treat."

"Piper…"

"I know, I know, you don't like me throwing my money around. Consider it a thank you present for Sally for everything she's done for me."

"How does that even make sense?"

"Well," she raised a finger in the air as if she were a college professor delivering a crucial piece of information for their class, "since Sally loves you and wants to see you happy, she'd want you to contact your soulmate, because we both know that will make you happy."

Percy just stared at her incredulously.

"Come on! Please? For Sally? You wouldn't want to upset Mama Jackson, would you?" Piper begged.

Percy sighed and Piper cheered. "You're too good with words, you know that right?" he said.

"I know, I guess I was just born with a gift," she said with a grin, before grabbing multiple canisters of spray chalk and walking up to the counter to pay. They thanked the cashier and stepped out the store.

"Alright, let's do this," said Percy, reaching for the bag in Piper's hand.

"Woah! Ease up turbo, we need to do it over a sink or at the very least some cloth. Otherwise we'll make a mess everywhere! Let's go back to my place, we can do it there."

Percy hesitated, "Or we could, um, we um, could do it at mine?"

Piper blinked as if she'd been slapped in the face, "Please tell me I heard you right and you're not pulling some cruel prank for the Perseus thing," she whispered.

Percy smiled awkwardly. "It's not a joke Pipes, things have… changed now. You're free to come around whenever you want, just as long as you understand you will be forced to do homework."

"Yes! Mama Jackson I'm coming home! Come on guys, we need to get a move on!"

Percy smiled at her antics, and watched as she strode purposefully ahead. Jane scowled next to him, "Of course Miss McLean," she said.

#


	4. Three Cheers for Mama Jackson

**Sorry about this chapter, it's a real filler chapter, but I felt like I couldn't just skip to what comes next in the story. I hope you guys can forgive me.**

 **Disclaimer: I am not Rick.**

"Of course we don't mind sitting with you Hazel!" said Annabeth.

"But I don't want you getting picked on because of me. I'm the new girl, I'm younger than you guys, and, well…" Hazel trailed off, and Annabeth realised the younger girl wasn't used to people being nice to her. She wondered if she'd even had any friends before. The very thought made Annabeth's blood boil. This girl was way too sweet to be treated this way. Any doubts she may have had were immediately squashed; after everything Hazel put up with earlier that day, Annabeth was going to make sure she repaid her. She placed her lunch tray next to the smaller girl's and slid onto the bench beside her.

"It's a good thing I'm already Octavian's favourite target then, isn't it?" she said with a smile.

Jason, Reyna, Dakota and Gwen, who had all been watching the debate between the two girls, followed Annabeth's lead and sat down at the lunch table.

Hazel blushed. "Thanks you guys," she said, her eyes damp and smile bright.

"So, Annabeth," Reyna said pointedly, "are you actually going to introduce us?"

"Oh! Sorry guys! This is Hazel Levesque, she's in the grade below us. Hazel, this is Reyna, Jason, Gwen and Dakota," she pointed to each of her friends as she spoke.

"It's nice to meet you all," Hazel said quietly.

"Hazel here is amazing, she calmed me down earlier today when I had another… er… bad hair day," praised Annabeth.

"It was nothing," replied Hazel, "all I did was sit there and listen to your story."

"I'm serious Hazel, you were fantastic!" insisted Annabeth.

"From what I heard Hazel, you were pretty great," said Jason. "Anyone who can calm Annabeth down when it comes to a soulmate moment is a miracle worker, just saying."

Annabeth scowled, "You didn't have to agree so readily Jason." The children at the table all laughed at this before Annabeth continued, "But seriously, my hair smelled like a toilet, and then it started foaming because my soulmate was washing _their_ hair and she didn't even bat an eyelid."

"You're making a big deal out of nothing Annabeth, it wasn't anything special," Hazel said.

"Hey, don't sell yourself short. If what Annabeth and Jason say is true, then I'd say you did a good thing today. That's worth acknowledging," chimed in Reyna.

"Yeah!" Gwen agreed, before Dakota stood up on the table and raised his bottle of Kool-Aid he was drinking.

"To Hazel!" he called.

Hazel hid her face behind her fringe, "You guys!"

"Dakota, sit down before you hurt yourself!" Gwen chastised, "And stop drawing attention to us."

Dakota wobbled on his feet before collapsing back into the chair.

"His Kool-Aid is loaded with three times the sugar, it makes a total mess of his ADHD and dyslexia," whispered Annabeth so only Hazel could hear.

"So Hazel, Annabeth said you were pretty interested in Soul Links. Have you got yours yet?" asked Jason.

"Um, no. I only just turned eleven. But I can't wait to get it!" she replied. "What about you guys? Do you all have your Links?"

Gwen and Reyna both squirmed with discomfort. The rest of the table all sat silently, sending pitying looks their way. Finally Jason spoke up, "I have mine. Anything I write on my skin transfers to my soulmate's and vice versa. Her name's Piper, she's from New York."

"That's so cool! Can you show me?" asked Hazel, leaning in close to the blond.

"Sure!" He pulled out his ever-reliable permanent marker and wrote on his arm a short sentence. His arm briefly showed the message 'Piper, say hello to my new friend Hazel x', before fading away.

"Awwww you send her x's? That's adorable!"

Jason flushed with embarrassment. "Yeah, it's kind of a thing we both do."

"What he means is he's totally wrapped around this girl's finger," piped up Dakota with a smirk. Annabeth and Gwen both winced and glanced at Reyna. The two girls silently wished Dakota was a little less oblivious to his surroundings. Jason too.

Reyna's face hardened and she stood up quickly. "I'm going to the library," she said sharply, before spinning on her heel and walking straight-backed out of the cafeteria.

"Reyna," Gwen whispered, before looking at Annabeth, "I'll go check on her."

"Yeah, okay," the blonde replied, "I'll throw your trash away."

"Nah, this doofus can do it," said Gwen as she smacked Dakota in the back of the head.

"What'd I do?" he cried.

"Honestly, boys," Gwen said, before walking away to find their other friend.

Hazel looked after them worriedly, "I hope I didn't upset Reyna."

"No, it's not your fault Hazel," said Annabeth, "Reyna doesn't have a Link. At least not yet. But she does have feelings for someone who is linked, so soulmates are a touchy subject for her. She tends to make herself sparse when they come up in conversation. Which makes it hard when all loverboy wants to do is gush about some girl from New York." She gave Jason a pointed look.

"In my defence, Hazel asked," he said with hands up in surrender.

Annabeth sighed, "It's probably for the best they left, Jason won't shut up for the rest of lunch time."

"Hey!"

"It's fine Jace, it's better to get it all out in the open now. Plus, you've been pretty quiet about Piper for the last few weeks, you must be bursting at the seams right now."

Jason smiled bashfully, "Yeah, maybe a little."

Annabeth, Dakota and Hazel all smiled, before Hazel turned to Annabeth. "Wait, you said it was good _they_ left."

"Gwen can't see her Soul Link," said Jason. "She was in an accident a few months ago. She kind of got skewered by a piece of metal, which left a scar on her back. It just happens to be where her mark is, you can just see the edges of it."

"I thought Soul Link marks went over the top of scars," said Hazel.

"They do," said Jason, "it just takes time."

"It normally takes about a year to grow past the scar tissue, depending on the severity of the injury and the strength of the Soul Link," said Annabeth. "If it were Jason and Piper, I'd imagine it'd only take six months. But since we don't know a thing about Gwen's soulmate, and they've never made contact, it might take her two years before we begin to see anything more than what we already do."

"That's so sad," said Hazel.

"Yeah, but she's taken it in her stride. It's been a blessing in a way, it's given Reyna someone to bond with. She's not exactly the most open person in the world," reassured Jason. "Hey look! Piper's replied! She says 'nice to meet you Hazel' and –" the boy stopped and blushed.

"Annnndddd?" prompted Dakota with a smirk.

"And you should know that I'm taken," he murmured.

His three friends all laughed. "Piper's a little protective of Jason, but she means well," said Annabeth.

"Well, tell her I'm glad to meet her and that I'm well aware you're off limits," Hazel said with a smile.

"You're already a Piper-whisperer Hazel, you'll fit in well here I think," said Dakota.

"I hope so," the young girl replied.

#

"I hope you know it was never your fault sweetie," Sally said as she squeezed Piper tightly, "it just wasn't safe for you here with Gabe around."

Piper nodded into her chest as she returned the hug just as fiercely, tears pricking at the edge of her eyes.

"Oh, I've missed you so much sweetie," Sally continued. She pulled away and held Piper at arm's length. "And look at how much you've grown! And your hair! It's back to its normal colour. Probably a good thing with Percy over here now."

"Hey!" Percy cried.

Piper giggled through her sniffles, "I've missed you too Sally."

"Ahem," Jane cleared her throat pointedly.

"Oh don't worry Jane, she's been calling me that for years. I told her to," said the older woman.

"It's not appropriate for Mr McLean's daughter to be speaking that way to her elders."

"Yes you're right, we're going to have to change that Piper," Sally said. Piper and Percy were both shocked.

"Thank you, Miss Jackson," said Jane.

"Mom –" began Percy.

"Yes! I love it Percy. Mom, that sounds much more appropriate, don't you think Piper?" Sally said cheekily.

Piper beamed, "I think so."

"Miss McLean, that is not –"

"A bad idea at all? Yes, I think so too. Well done Percy," interrupted Percy's mother.

"Thanks Mom," he replied, his own grin matching his friend's.

"Miss Jackson, please."

"Thank you for bringing the children home. I'll make sure Piper gets back to Mr McLean's after dinner. Good day Jane," said Sally.

Jane spluttered out a goodbye before Sally closed the door on her. She breathed out a sigh before looking at both of the children, "If either of you two are ever that rude to an adult, I'll wring your necks," she said sternly, before they all burst into hysterical laughter.

"You're amazing Sally, I've wanted to see someone stick it to Jane for so long, so thank you" said Piper when they finally calmed down enough.

"Were you not listening sweetie, it's Mom now," said Sally.

"Wait, what?"

"She knows you call her Mama Jackson, and let's face it, she's been more of a parent to you than anyone else in the last few years. It seems only logical," said Percy with a smile.

"You told her!" she called out embarrassedly.

"It was payback for when Mom told you about Perseus."

"If it makes you feel better sweetie, it made me so happy for days," chimed in Sally.

"Oh, well, um, I guess I can't argue with that," the young girl replied.

"Good. Mom it is then. Now can we get to the kitchen, I'm starving!" said Percy, before he strode purposefully towards the room in question.

Sally and Piper rolled their eyes to each other, but followed him nonetheless.

"Yes, cookies!" they heard, and they both smiled as they entered the kitchen to the boy stuffing his mouth full of the home-made treats.

"Save some for the rest of us," said Piper, "I know the plumbing business can help work up an appetite, but we need to eat too."

Percy's eyes blew wide and he shook his head vigorously to Piper. Sally sighed beside her, and the two kids winced.

"Um, sorry Sal-Mom."

"It's okay sweetie, let's just try not to remind me about the fact my son was involved in the destruction of a sewer system."

"It wasn't my fault!" he yelled, cookie crumbs flying from his mouth.

"Ew, gross. There goes my appetite," said Piper with her nose scrunched up.

"Great, well done Percy. The girl is already fading away and now you're stopping her from eating," Sally joked, before directing her attention to the girl in question. "What are they feeding you?"

"Take away mostly. Dad put Jane in charge of food, so that usually means she gives me the phone and tells me to get whatever I want," she said angrily.

"Bah!" Sally scoffed. "You don't have to worry anymore, whenever you want a home-cooked meal, you just give me a call. I can deliver it to you or you can come around here to eat it."

"No, you don't –"

"None of that Piper," she said with a kind smile, "I don't mind. I already have to cook extra for Percy as it is."

"Why do you two have to tear me down to have a moment?" said Percy, but the smile on his face portrayed his true feelings.

"Oh shush dork, like you said, we're having a moment," said Piper. Percy just stuck his tongue out, and Sally and Piper returned the gesture. "Thanks Mom," continued Piper, "that'd be amazing."

"Any time dear, you're family," the woman replied. "Now, I'm sure you two have homework you could be doing?"

The two friends groaned, before Piper lit up. On her arm was a message from Jason. "Jason's made a new friend!" she said as she pulled out her permanent marker to reply.

"I hope they're reliable, you'll chase them away otherwise," Percy said snidely.

"Oh har har. At least I can talk to my soulmate."

"I can too! That's the whole reason you came here remember!"

"Oh my gods, you're right! Let's go!"

Before Sally could ask what was going on, the two had grabbed their bags and fled to the bathroom. She laughed when Piper came back for the tray of cookies and ruffled her hair. Piper gave her another hug.

"Thank you for everything Mama Jackson."

The mother just smiled as her surrogate daughter skipped down to her friend. She could only imagine the mess she'd undoubtedly have to clean up, but for now she was content. Her family was back together. She looked up to a picture on the wall, where a man with a striking resemblance to Percy stood holding a much younger Sally Jackson out the front of a small cabin. "Oh Poseidon, if only you could see how much you were missing out on," she said to the empty room.

#


	5. Contact!

**First of all, I'm really sorry for how long it's taken me to get this chapter out. I really did try my hardest, because it's been written for over a month, but trying to organise time in my life to get it edited was really hard. However, I hope it was worth the wait because I had a lot of fun writing it. As always, if you recognise it, it doesn't belong to me.**

"I swear their head is just an empty room!"

"You know, it's not as bad as you make it out to be Annabeth," said Jason.

"Yeah, I think it's cute they're trying to contact you," supported Hazel.

"Guys, I have a massive 'hey' on the back of my head! How is that okay?"

"Your soulmate is trying to contact you, how is that anything but good news?" said Hazel.

"Because I don't want a soulmate!"

"Come on Annabeth! You should write something back," said Hazel, unaffected by her defiance.

"Yeah Annabeth, talk to them. You won't regret it!" chimed in Jason.

"I regret talking to you Hazel. One loverboy was bad enough, having two is unbearable," Annabeth deadpanned.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry," the African American replied, looking down at her feet.

"Don't listen to her Hazel, you know she loves you once she starts getting sarcastic with you," Jason said.

"Yeah that was a joke Hazel. I'm glad I opened up to you, you're a great listener."

"Um, are you sure?" Hazel replied.

"Definitely. Now come on, this mall isn't going to tour itself!"

"Never thought I'd see the day where Annabeth would want to show off the mall," said Jason, and he and Hazel sniggered.

"Oh put a sock in it Sparky," snapped Annabeth. "Now over here Hazel, we have these beautiful columns, based –"

" _Now_ it makes sense," said Jason, "you're just looking for fresh meat to architecturefy."

"Firstly, that's not even a word. Secondly, I was legitimately interested in giving Hazel the low down on the mall. If she happened to get an education on the wonderful architecture of this building, well that's just a happy coincidence," replied Annabeth.

"I don't mind Jason," said Hazel.

"Thank you!" she replied, giving Jason a pointed look.

"You say that now Hazel, you haven't been on the end of a two-hour rant on the structural integrity of arches," he said with a shudder.

"Really, I don't mind."

"You should be more supportive of me Jason, I'll be the one designing Piper's dream home you know," said Annabeth.

"Piper's? Don't you mean mine and Piper's?" asked Jason.

Annabeth smirked, and Jason knew he'd made a mistake, "You really think you're gonna get a say in the matter? She'll say jump and you won't even ask how high, you'll just take her in your arms and fly your way up the side of the Grand Canyon."

Hazel giggled at this whilst Jason scowled, "Yeah, yeah Chase, just wait 'til you've fallen in love with your soulmate, you'll be doing the exact same thing."

"You didn't fall in love straight away?" Hazel asked.

Annabeth looked away awkwardly. "It's different for different people Haze," Jason said softly. "I was pretty quick to warm up to Piper, "

"Really? Tell me your story Jason. Pretty please," Hazel pleaded, her eyes wide like a doe's.

"Easy Hazel, save those bad boys for when you really need them, Jason will grasp at any excuse to talk about Piper," Annabeth said, re-joining the conversation as if nothing had happened.

Jason blushed. "Shut up." he said to the blonde, before turning to their new friend, "She's right though, Piper is amazing. It happened back in February, I was in art class and I felt a tingling on my arm. I looked down and saw someone had put a line of blue paint on there, but the only person I was near enough to was Reyna, and we both know she's not the kind of girl to slack off in class. I was so confused, and then there was the tingling feeling again, but on my cheek. I touched it but there was nothing there, so I shrugged it off. The next five minutes of my life were so uncomfortable, I had that tingling sensation all over my body, mainly my face and arms."

"It was one of the funniest things I've ever watched," Annabeth chimed in. "We were sitting there watching Jason swat at his skin and wriggle around like he had ants in his pants. All the while his skin was slowly gaining more colour than a Mardi Gras parade."

"I'm not proud of what happened next," Jason continued.

"What happened," said Hazel, her complete attention on the boy.

"I jumped from my seat and yelled at Reyna to quit it," he murmured.

"You yelled at Reyna?" Hazel gasped.

"Yeah, it wasn't my finest moment. Reyna told me pretty quickly I was yelling at the wrong person. Mr Gaskin, the art teacher, told me I had no respect for art and sent me to the principal's office. I got detention for a week and I couldn't for the life of me scrub off this paint. It was totally weird when it started disappearing by itself. That's when I worked it out, so I grabbed out a permanent marker and told Piper she'd gotten me detention. Apparently, that scared the Pluto out of her. But eventually I got a reply, it was a simple sorry, but it was enough. From then on, I was hooked. It was weird at first, having your body tingle all over when they were writing something. But as the Soul Link settled, the tingling calmed down, and the stuff we wrote disappeared after five minutes. Now, it's basically like texting. The stuff we write on our arms fades almost immediately, but what they write stays until we reply. Don't ask me how it works, it's something to do with the hormone balances and neuron messages sent through the body and how it interacts with the Soul Link. The main thing is, it works for us, and that's all that matters. Though it does suck that I can never write a note on my hand ever again."

They all laughed at that. "Awww that's so cool! Do you know why she had paint all over her?" Hazel asked.

"Yeah, she and her friend Percy got into a paint fight in class. They got served with two weeks of detention for it, so at least I wasn't the only one stuck bored out of my mind after school. But it gave me an opportunity to talk to her without getting in trouble with my parents or teachers so that's something," he said with a nostalgic smile.

"Oh my gods, sounds like you have a trouble maker on your hands Jace," Hazel teased.

"Yeah, she is a bit, though her friend Percy definitely doesn't help. They're mad together apparently. They blew up their school bus with a war cannon in fifth grade from all accounts."

Hazel stared at him with a mix of disbelief, shock and scepticism.

"That's right Hazel, Golden Boy Jason Grace has a bad girl, and the only time he's ever gotten in trouble was because of her. I'm just glad _my_ soulmate isn't like that," Annabeth said.

"You have no idea what your soulmate is like Annabeth, and going by the blue hair, they're probably some punk kid or something," Jason laughed.

" _Speaking_ of your soulmate," Hazel interrupted before Annabeth could reply, which Jason was very grateful for judging by the stormy look on her face, "we need to get you something to talk to them with. Come on." She grabbed the older girl's hand and promptly dragged her towards a hair salon. Before Annabeth could complete the first sentence of her protest, Hazel had gained the attention of a worker there.

"What can I do for you?" the bubbly girl asked, who looked to be about 15 years old. After a few moments of deliberation and fighting her dyslexia, Annabeth decided the cursive font on her nametag read Silena.

"Yes, we're looking for a way to write on hair," Hazel said, more boldly than Annabeth had seen in the few hours she'd known her.

"To write on hair?" Silena asked.

"Yeah, my friend here wants to contact her soulmate, they're linked by their hair."

Silena squealed. "Oh. My. Gods. That is a _dor_ able! Of course sweetie! I'm sure we can find you the perfect thing. Oh my! Look at you, about to take your first steps towards the amazing life of being linked! It's just the greatest! Look at me, I'm tearing up in excitement. I just, my life got so much better with my soulmate, and now I get to help someone with theirs. This is the best day of my life! Speak of the devil, Charlie baby!" The trio stood in shock as Silena spoke at a blistering pace, before charging an African-American boy walking towards the store. He looked to be the same age as her, and was holding a coffee and brown paper bag in one of his large, callused hands.

"Woah Silena! What's happening, where's the fire?" he said.

"Guys, this is my soulmate Charlie. Charlie, this is, um, oh my I never caught your names!"

"Nice to meet you, call me Beckendorf." the boy said, before turning to the black-haired girl in his arms, "Hey Sil, why don't you just take a deep breath and calm down."

"This isn't the time to calm down Charlie! This girl's trying to contact her soulmate!"

"No I'm –" Annabeth started.

"Oh gosh you're right, I'm wasting your time sweetie, I'm so sorry, I – mmph!"

For the first time since they'd met the girl, Silena stopped talking, thanks to Beckendorf's lips firmly locked on hers. When he pulled away, her eyes were glazed as she stared adoringly at him.

"Wha…"

Beckendorf turned to Annabeth and her friends. "If you guys get a rambler for a soulmate, that's the best way to get them to slow down," he said with a wink, before returning his attention back to his girlfriend. "You need to chill baby, not everyone loves soulmates like you do. This can be a really nerve-wracking time for some people, the last thing they want is a lunatic hairdresser's assistant talking to them at a mile-a-minute," he said with a soft smile.

Silena huffed before smiling herself, "Yeah, you're right, thanks Charlie." She turned to the others, "Sorry sweeties, let's see if I can help you properly this time. Follow me."

Annabeth glanced at Beckendorf, who smiled knowingly and winked, and at that moment she realised he'd been in the same boat as her. For whatever reason, he didn't want a soulmate. But it was obvious his opinion had changed at some stage. As Silena listed off the pros and cons of each product, she pondered whether her opinion would change about her soulmate, before scoffing. "Yeah right," she thought to herself.

Eventually, they settled on some spraychalk that Hazel and Silena were both happy with, as somehow Annabeth had been left out of this decision. Jason paid for it, and the three finally left with a promise to tell Silena how it went.

"Well she was something else, wasn't she?" said Jason with a laugh.

"You didn't have to pay for the stuff Jason," said Annabeth.

"Annabeth, please, my dad thinks he can just buy my affection back after all that's happened, I have too much to know what to do with. It's fine."

"Well, thanks anyway," she replied awkwardly. "I better get going, it's getting late."

Hazel glanced at a nearby clock. "Oh gosh, is that the time?" she cried, "I need to go too! Bye guys, it was lovely meeting you both today. Tell me how the chalk goes tomorrow Annabeth! Um, that's if you want to of course. I'd understand if you didn't."

"Don't be ridiculous Hazel, of course we do. We'll meet you at the front of the school tomorrow morning," replied Jason.

"Really? Thanks guys, you're the best!" She gave them both a quick hug, blushed, then sprinted out of the mall.

"Well… she's certainly something else," Jason said.

Annabeth smiled, "Yeah, she is. But if I ever get my hands on whoever hurt her and destroyed her confidence, they're going to wish they'd never been born."

"I'd like to see that," the boy replied with a dark smirk.

The two walked home until their paths separated, where Annabeth brushed off Jason's comment to talk to her soulmate. When she arrived home, she sat the can of spraychalk on her shelf, with the promise to ignore it. But when morning arrived, she'd taken it down again. She couldn't believe she was being tempted by some kid who turned her hair blue and made her smell like toilet water. She tried to ignore the idea, yet she couldn't forget the way Beckendorf looked so happy, even though he'd not wanted to be with Silena at some stage in his life.

"Annabeth Chase, you're being ridiculous," she said to herself in the mirror. As she stared at her reflection, she raised her gaze towards her hair, or more importantly, what was left of it. Her beautiful, professional, respectable curls were ruined. Her face set into a smirk, if they wanted her to contact her soulmate, she would. She'd just have to hope the idiot didn't have a hat.

#

"Hats off inside Mr Jackson," Mr Brunner called.

"It's not a hat sir, it's a beanie!" Percy replied with a smirk.

"It's still a hat, and thus it is against school policy to wear one indoors."

"Well I think we need to address school policy. This is a gross injustice to the student body!"

"Mr Jackson," Mr Brunner repeated, and Percy knew he could push his luck no further. Mr Brunner might be the greatest teacher ever, and always up for a joke with the class, but he was still a teacher who had rules he needed to make sure were followed. Percy hesitated for one more moment, and that was enough for Piper.

"Oh for gods' sake," she said, before reaching over her desk from her place behind Percy and whipping off his beanie, before snorting and collapsing into hysterical laughter. The class, all curious at her reaction, strained to see what was funny. Percy tried to cover his head, but he wasn't quick enough. The class all got to read the message written in large, red letters emblazoned on his hair: **YOU DROOL WHEN YOU SLEEP**. The class roared with amusement, whilst Percy, who was blushing deeply, quickly put his hat back on. Mr Brunner mouthed an apology to him as he tried to settle the class down. Piper made this difficult, and eventually Chiron had to send her out of the classroom to calm down. She came back after five minutes, cheeks red and wet from crying.

"Are you sure you're okay now Miss McLean?" asked Mr Brunner, one corner of his mouth upturned at her predicament.

"I think I'll be alright now Mr Brunner, 'though I reckon I've got some killer abs now. Hey Percy, make sure you send your soulmate a thank you for me, I'm ripped 'cause of them."

The class immediately broke into laughter once more, and Mr Brunner sighed. "Looks like we won't be learning much about the Anceint Greeks now, will we Piper?"

Piper looked at him sheepishly, "Sorry sir."

Mr Brunner gave her a fond, exasperated smile. "It's okay, just go back to your seat now."

Percy scowled at Piper as she walked towards him. "I hate you," he deadpanned.

"You know, maybe this soulmate thing isn't such a good idea. You seem to be doing a lot of hating recently, and it all started when your Soul Link appeared," she said cheekily.

"The hatred has always been simmering, my soulmate made me see the light."

"My oh my, you are in a foul mood this morning."

"Piper, go easy on him, he's already had enough issues between the toilet exploding in his face, and now this," Grover chimed in from next to Percy.

"Groveeeeerrrrr," she whined.

"Yeah, I'm an innocent child who has been the victim of some atrocious bad luck. You should be showing me some sympathy," Percy said, before wincing at Piper's face-splitting smirk.

"You're right, you are a child, that's why you drool," she said, before cackling with delight.

Percy just groaned and let his head hit the table. "You suck, my soulmate sucks, life sucks. Grover make it better."

"Oh stop your whining, you've got your own spraychalk don't you?" said Piper.

"Yeah?"

"Well, get even!"

"Piper no!" cried Grover.

"Piper yes!" exclaimed Percy.

"Percy, take the high road," pleaded Grover.

"Sorry G-Man, I'm joining the dark side this time," said Percy. Piper cheered and gave him a high five, before he jumped over the desk and sat down next to her. The two bent their heads over a book and began to brainstorm ideas.

"Seaweed Brain?" Percy cried.

"Admittedly, you did call them an old sot," replied Grover.

"Excuse me, but you're meant to be on my side here Grover," said Percy.

"I was. Right up until you decided to retaliate!"

"Well I wasn't going to sit there and take it, was I?"

"You could've been the bigger person Perce."

"You sound like my mom."

"She's a smart woman."

"Don't I get even the slightest bit of sympathy?" Percy whined.

"Nah, where's the fun in that?" chimed in Piper.

Percy scowled at her. He seemed to do that a lot. "Come on Piper, it was your idea to fire back a reply. This has been going on for a week now, and I haven't won one of these exchanges yet! Help me think up something to get my stupid soulmate with."

"Percy, you and I both know 'old sot' was our best option, and they came up with something twice as good. Just accept defeat," said Piper.

"Yes!" continued Grover, "Be the bigger man. Accept defeat and try to be nice. They deserve that, especially considering you probably dyed their hair blue."

"Grover you're a genius!" cried Percy.

"I am? I mean, of course I am! Glad you're finally listening to me," he said.

"I've got to dye my hair again. Or at least make it a crazy colour for a day," Percy said with a smirk.

Grover groaned and Piper cheered. "Why Mr Jackson, I do believe you've come up with a most wonderful plan. Would you like some assistance?" she said with a posh accent.

"I thought you'd never ask," replied Percy in the same manner.

"I'm thinking a nice fiery red, to match your soulmate's first message."

"Guys, why do we have to poke the bear all the time?" moaned Grover.

"I think red is a great idea Piper," said Percy, talking over the top of the other boy. "That'll teach 'em to mess with Percy Jackson."

#


	6. Panic stations!

"Okay class, today we're be beginning our unit on advertising," said Mr Blofis from the front of the classroom. Annabeth sat in her last period in a foul mood. She'd woken up with the words 'old sot' written across her head, which Octavian somehow found out about. This meant the whole school had to be told at lunchtime, leaving Annabeth blushing furiously in a mix of embarrassment and rage. She'd immediately written _Seaweed Brain_ on her head in the hopes someone from her soulmate's life saw it and they received the same treatment as her.

"Annabeth!" yelled Mr Blofis as if he'd been trying to get her attention for a while now.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Whilst I'm sure whatever your notebook did to you was truly terrible and deserves every scowl it gets, I'd appreciate if you'd scowl and listen to the class as well," he said with a small smile.

"Sorry sir," she replied, blushing slightly. Once again, her soulmate was causing issues for her. As Mr Blofis continued his lesson, Annabeth tried to concentrate, but between her dyslexia, ADHD and mood, she very quickly lost focus. Eventually, she gave up on the lesson and stared out the window, hoping Mr Blofis would allow it to slide based on her previous effort in the class. Her mind wandered to Beckendorf and Silena. She wondered what their story was, especially Beckendorf's. He seemed so content with his life, yet she was sure he'd been in a similar position to her, to some extent at least. What made him change his mind? Did Silena simply wear him down or was there something more. She was sure there was more, he didn't seem like the kind of person who'd give in easily. He was definitely the kind of person who'd fight to the end for his cause. So what happened?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a now familiar tingling of her scalp. She groaned inwardly. "Here we go again," she thought to herself.

"Feeling a little angry Chase? Or maybe you're just embarrassed to be the only freak in school? 'Cause you've really taken this whole 'blushing to the roots of your hair' thing to a new level," Octavian called, and his friends laughed. Some of the class joined them, but Annabeth was interested to see some roll their eyes at him. It seemed like they were starting to get over it, which made her happy. It was just a pity there were some sympathetic looks. Annabeth couldn't stand pity or people thinking she wasn't strong enough to handle herself.

"Thank you Octavian, we're all well aware that Annabeth has a soulmate now, and they seem to find great pleasure in torturing each other with insults and daily hairdo changes, however as this has no relevance to the class, I would appreciate it if you made no comment on it. Remember this Octavian, you're yet to discover whether you have a soul link or not, and Miss Chase is the wittiest student I've ever taught. If you think you're entertaining, just imagine Annabeth with a grudge," Mr Blofis stated seriously.

Both Annabeth and Octavian blushed, Annabeth with pride and Octavian in shock.

"Now if you don't mind," continued Mr Blofis, "I have a class to teach." With that, he continued on with his lesson, leaving Annabeth to sit quietly in admiration for her teacher. He'd managed to put Octavian in his place without tearing the boy down. He simply elevated her. Whilst she hated others fighting her battles for her, especially adults, the look on Octavian's face was enough for her to overlook the moment. So she sat back and enjoyed the sulky look on Octavian's face for the rest of the lesson.

Finally, the bell rang signally the end of the period and time for afternoon homeroom. Those in Mr Blofis' homeroom stayed and began their afternoon routine, with Mr Blofis overlooking proceedings. The final siren sounded and the students filed out. Jason moved towards Annabeth.

"You go on ahead Jase, I'll meet you and the others in the usual booth. I'm going to talk to Mr Blofis for a minute," she said.

"Are you sure? We can wait if you want?"

"No it's okay, I might be here a little while."

"Okay then, we'll see you there. Your order will be ready and waiting for you," he said, before calling out a farewell to Mr Blofis and exiting the room, who replied in the same manner before turning to the blonde girl who remained in his classroom.

Annabeth dropped her eyes from his, "Sorry Mr Blofis, I was having trouble concentrating in class today."

"I figured as much, something tells me you have a lot on your plate," he said with a glance at her hair.

"Yeah, it hasn't been the easiest two weeks I've ever had," Annabeth replied sourly, "but that's why I wanted to talk to you sir. I wanted to say thanks for dealing with Octavian. It's been hard enough adjusting without having to put up with him as well."

"Any time Annabeth. I was twelve once, I know how you feel. If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm always willing to lend an ear, even if it's not so cool to talk to your teachers," he said with a wink.

"Thank you sir, I might take you up on that one day" she replied.

"Have you worked out how this link works yet?"

"It seems to me that whatever we do to our hair is permanent, but is temporary on the other person for about a day."

"I see. Well, I do hope it works out for you Miss Chase." Mr Blofis smiled at her before clapping his hands, "Now, let's go photocopy these notes of mine from English class so you can actually learn what I'm trying to teach," he said with a pointed look, though it was not unkind.

Annabeth shuffled her feet in embarrassment, "That'd be great Mr Blofis."

Her teacher simply smiled once more and gathered his belongings, "It gets easier Annabeth, trust me."

"I certainly hope so sir."

#

Percy hoped he hadn't just made the biggest mistake of his short life. He should have never listened to Piper. Listening to Piper always got him into trouble. His bright red hair had worked perfectly; he had no doubt that he'd managed to get under his soulmate's skin. The only problem was, they hadn't done anything back to him since then, and it was driving him insane.

"It was the bragging, wasn't it? I shouldn't have bragged. They must think I'm some cocky snob or something. They hate me. They're never going to love me. I'm going to die alone!" Percy moaned as he sat with his face on the lunch table.

"Oh come on Percy, it can't be that bad," said Grover through a mouthful of apple.

"Grover, I haven't had anything from them in four days!"

"To be fair, you weren't exactly hitting it off," chimed in Piper.

"Not helping," the distraught boy growled.

"Look, maybe they're not ignoring you. Maybe they just can't reply," suggested Grover.

Percy leapt from his seat, "What? Why wouldn't they be able to reply?" he cried as he grabbed Grover by the collar.

"I don't know! Maybe – "

"Oh my Gods, what if they're hurt? They could be in the hospital, their life fading away as we sit here doing nothing! What if they're already dead? I really am going to be alone!"

"Oi Jackson!" Piper yelled. Percy, Grover and the other students nearby stopped and looked at the girl. When Piper McLean spoke, people tended to listen. "Pull yourself together man! Since when have you been this panicky?"

"You can't expect someone like Percy to be calm when someone he's close to could be in trouble Piper," Grover said.

"Maybe that's it Piper, maybe it's just who I am. But I don't know, I just can't relax about my soulmate. The thought of them being hurt has my whole head tingling and it's like my ADHD has just mixed with the entire Starbucks menu. I can't sit still, I can't think straight. What if they _are_ hurt Piper? What do I do then?"

Piper and Grover glanced at each other. They'd seen Percy handle all kinds of situations, and they knew someone major had occurred with his ex-stepfather, yet they had never seen him in this state.

"Okay Percy, look at me. Look straight into my eyes," Grover said soothingly. "That's good, now take a deep breath. In, two, three. Out, two, three. In, two, three. Out, two, three. That's better Perce, just keep taking those nice deep breaths with me."

Slowly, the green-eyed boy calmed himself. He flashed a sheepish grin at his friends and rubbed the back of his neck, "Thank you guys."

"Hey, don't look at me, it was all the Goat," Piper said, looking much calmer too.

"I don't care what you say Beauty Queen, I'm still going to take that as a compliment," replied Grover, trying to look dignified despite the blush creeping up his neck.

"You ba-aa-etter keep telling yourself that," bleated Piper.

Grover threw his abandoned apple at her, face now a deep red. " _Anyway_ Percy, what I meant was maybe your soulmate is simply busy, or on a camp or something. They might not be able to access any hair products."

It was Percy's turn to blush now, though his tanned, Greek complexion was much less obvious than Grover's pale skin. "I didn't think of that," he mumbled. "But what if that isn't the case? What if they are hurt? What if they just hate me now?"

"Then you need to be the bigger person this time. You need to suck it up and apologise."

"Grover's right. Sure this little war we have going on is fun and all. But not at the expense of your health. I've got some spray in my bag, let's head to the art room and we'll send an apology that'd get Apollo back to Olympus," Piper cheered.

"Still on that Riordan grind I see," said Grover with a smile.

"Those books are so good even Percy would read that!"

"Hey, woah, don't get too ahead of yourself McLean. I already do too much reading for school, without reading for _fun_ too." He said fun as if the very idea was horrifying.

"You would love them I swear! How can you not when Pippa McQueen is involved?"

"Alright you nerd, I'll apologise. Anything to get you to shut up about books," Percy groaned. Piper grinned smugly, and Percy wondered if maybe she said what she did on purpose.

"Okay! Let's go grovel with the best of them!" Piper grabbed Percy's arm and began to drag him in the direction of the art room.

"Have fun you two," said Grover cheerfully as he waved them goodbye.

#

 **So I'm terrible at this, I know. I've had a lot of personal issues over the last few months, which isn't an excuse because I still should have put time away. I have a contingency plan in place now which should hopefully make me write more frequently, so fingers crossed. I also apologise for the writing, I wasn't able to comb through this a thoroughly as previous chapters. If there are any glaring errors, let me know and I'll make the changes.**

 **I just realised I haven't thanked anyone for the reviews they've left, which is extremely rude of me, because every single one of those reviews left me grinning like an idiot for the rest of the day. So thank you guys. Hopefully, this chapter has clarified a few questions people asked. As for those who inquired about whether Jason and Piper have figured anything out yet, let's just say I have plans for them. But as this is a story in Percy and Annabeth's point of view, we won't find out unless they tell us.**

 **Until next time, thank you all so much for reading, I'm hoping to have the next chapter uploaded in a fortnight (two weeks for those who don't know that word).**


	7. What just happened?

"Annabeth!" cried Hazel as she waved to the blonde. Annabeth made her way over to the table where her friends were all seated, having had to come from the opposite side of the school from her art class she had without her friends. Hazel was beaming at her and bouncing in her seat. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Yes, they apologised again," she sighed.

"I knew it!" the dark-skinned girl yelled. "In your face Dakoda!"

"Who knew our sweet little Hazel had a competitive side," Gwen remarked.

"She's rather passionate about soulmates, unfortunately," replied Annabeth.

"That's because they're amazing! Now tell me all about it. What kind of message did they leave?" Hazel leaned across the table as she spoke.

Annabeth sighed again, "Here, read it yourself." She pulled off her beanie and spun around in her seat so the back of her head was facing the younger girl. Written in small blue letters (her soulmate seemed to have a liking towards blue, something she's sure her cousin would find revolting) across the stubble she called her hair was the words 'I'm sorry please talk to me or colour my hair or shave it again anything really I miss you'. Her soulmate also seemed to have a distinct lack of punctuation, something _she_ found revolting.

"Awwwww," Hazel cooed. Annabeth spun back around. "That's adorable, how can you keep saying no to that?"

"Easy. I –"

"It's okay Chase. You can't help being a freak. I accept your apology." Octavian's shrill voice cut through all conversations within the cafeteria.

"Let it go!" a girl much older than any of Annabeth's friends shouted from across the room. Octavian's face paled as Hylla Ramírez-Arellano, the school president, stared him down from her lunch table. "Gods you're so annoying. The first time you said it, it was witty. But this is the third day in a row, just get over it. Or at least come up with something new!"

The other seniors sitting with her laughed as Octavian spluttered before he scampered to his table and sat down red-faced. Annabeth frowned with embarrassment; she could take care of herself, she didn't need anyone fighting her fights. Her friends didn't share her frustration, laughing at the look on Octavian's face.

"Damn Reyna, how'd you get such a cool sister?" said Gwen.

"Obviously I brought her up well," deadpanned the Puerto Rican. Even Annabeth's lips twitched at that remark, for it was a response which was uniquely _Reyna_. "But seriously Annabeth, you need to do something about this soulmate of yours. It's not fair to just leave them in the dark, and you can't keep walking around with an apology across the back of your head."

"I know… but if I acknowledge them they're going to keep trying to talk to me. I don't want that, I don't want _them_!" the blonde replied.

"What? Annabeth you can't be serious?" cried Hazel, "You just think that because you haven't met them. They're perfect for you Annabeth! Just you wait, you're gonna meet someday and you'll fall in love and it's going to be beautiful and you'll forget this ever happened!"

"Look Hazel… I don't want a soulmate, I never have. I-"

"The grass is always greener Annabeth," said Reyna.

Annabeth stopped talking. There was no response to that. "Reyna," she said softly.

"Wait, what?" Hazel asked, eyes wide with worry. Jason spared her a pained glance, but before he could answer, Reyna spoke over him.

"Look, I don't know what's gone on in your life Annabeth, so I don't know what makes you tick. I get that there's obviously something pretty major there for you to hate soulmates so much. Maybe you're aroace and this is your way of fighting the whole soulmate thing until you can figure yourself out properly. I don't know, but what I _do_ know is that if I was in your position, I would do everything I could to see how this thing would go." With that, she picked up her lunch tray to return to the lunch ladies and left.

Annabeth watched her walk away, deep in thought.

"I better go make sure she's okay," said Gwen, "I hope you work this out Annabeth." She gave the blonde a tight-lipped smile and then followed her friend.

"What am I missing?" asked Hazel.

"Reyna doesn't have a soulmate, as far as we can tell. There's no indicator at all, and she's never felt like there was someone waiting for her, even though she's the oldest of us all," answered Jason solemnly.

"Oh my," gasped Hazel, "I had no idea."

"She doesn't advertise it like Octavian has in the past. She deals with her business by herself, we're lucky she even let Gwen in. That's the only reason we know, she convinced her to tell us. In case you haven't noticed, Reyna's a bit of a closed off person. Always willing to take everyone's burdens but never considers letting others help her. Reminds you of someone else we know, doesn't it?" said Jason, looking pointedly at Annabeth. She just glared back, then smirked when he flinched ever so slightly. Her glare was still as intimidating as ever.

"So, I'm guessing Reyna wishes she had a soulmate?" said Hazel.

"I guess so, that's the first I've ever heard of it. What do you think Annabeth?"

The grey-eyed girl sighed, "I guess. Like you said, Reyna doesn't let us in that often, she's a mystery even to me sometimes." That was a lie, Annabeth was brilliant at reading people, she just saw too much of herself in Reyna to risk exposing the girl. Besides, Reyna had a right to privacy, it wasn't her place to expose her.

"So what are you going to do Annabeth?" asked Hazel.

"Reyna's right, as usual. I can't leave this person in the dark, no matter how terrible their grammar is," she tried for a joke to reduce the seriousness of the conversation.

"Annabeth, you're dyslexic, you struggle with punctuation at the best of times too," jibed Jason.

"You're dyslexic too? Why am I only learning all this stuff now?" Hazel groaned.

"Join the club Haze, it's very prestigious," said Dakota, straightening an imaginary tie.

"You too?" she cried.

"Actually, that would be all of us," laughed Jason. "But at least you know you belong here."

Hazel smiled at that, "Yeah, I guess I do. But this is off topic! Annabeth, this means you're going to talk to them?"

"Yeah, I will. Tonight. I need set everything straight."

#

Percy stood straight, eyes wide with wonder. Five seconds ago, he'd barely been awake, even though he'd eaten breakfast and was now brushing his teeth. But now, as he stared at the white writing in his hair, he could only freeze with shock. After so many days of radio silence, they'd finally contacted him. A giant grin broke across his face and toothpaste began to drip down his chin, but he didn't care. He spat, despite being only halfway through his routine, and ran through the house to his mother.

"Mum! Mum! Mum! They're not dead! They're talking to me! Mum!"

"Percy, where's the fire?" said Sally, but her matching smile told Percy she knew exactly what he was talking about. The boy took a flying leap into her arms. "Oof," she grunted. "Percy, though I love the fact you still want to give your old mom a hug, you're a little bit big to be doing that honey," she told him, though she held him tighter as she said it.

Percy let himself slide back to the floor and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry Mum, but this is so exciting! They're talking to me again! Mum, you were right! You were right! They did write to me Mum!" Percy grabbed his mother in another crushing hug, this time with both feet firmly planted on the ground.

"Well, what are they saying honey? Don't leave me in the dark here," Sally laughed.

"Oh… um… I don't know," he replied awkwardly, shuffling his feet.

Sally smiled down at her son, "Would you perhaps want me to read it to you?"

Percy sighed and smiled, "You're the best Mum."

The woman shook her head at her son's antics, a content smile on her face. "Let me just get my reading glasses first." She walked into her bedroom and re-emerged with the glasses balanced on her nose. "Head down Percy, let's get a good look at this message of yours."

The boy did as he was told, though he fidgeted from one foot to the other, excited to hear what his soulmate had to say.

"Percy honey, you're going to have to stand still for a moment. It's hard to read with you moving the whole time."

Percy looked up at his mum with an embarrassed look on his face.

Sally held up a hand to forestall the apology she knew was coming. "It's okay, I know you're excited and that plays with your ADHD. Just try really hard for me okay?"

Percy nodded enthusiastically, before bowing his head again for his mum to read what was on his head once more, focusing on staying as still as possible.

"Dear Soulmate," Sally read aloud, "thank you for your apology, but – oh no, oh Gods." Sally held her hands to her mouth and could feel tears pressing her eyes for what was to come.

"Mum? What is it?" asked Percy, his smile slowly slipping from his face as he looked up to see his mother's reaction.

Sally cleared her throat, "But I don't want a soulmate. Please never contact me again. I hope you understand. Oh baby, I'm so sorry." She pulled her son into a tight hug as if to protect him from the words she herself had just read to him.

Percy felt as if all the energy in his life had been sucked right out of him. He felt like he'd just been told Gabe was going to be living with them again. No, it was worse than that. Not quite being told he could never see his mother again, but it was a close second. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to think. He stood there limply as his mother held him, unable to move with shock.

His mother pulled away and cupped his face, looking him in the eyes. "This isn't your fault okay? Obviously, they've had bad experiences in their life with soulmates. Or maybe they're aromantic. I don't know, but this is _not_ because of you." Sally desperately tried to convey the message to her son, to make sure he knew and believed it, but she could see in his eyes already that he didn't.

"I don't think I'm going to go to school today Mum, I think I've got a bit of a fever," Percy said hollowly.

"Okay baby, why don't you go curl up on the couch and put on a movie? I'll bake up a fresh batch of cookies."

Percy's mouth turned into a small, sad half-smile and Sally's heart broke at the sight. "I don't think cookies will fix this one Mum," he said as he pushed away from her and dejectedly slumped to his room. He shut the door quietly and moved towards his bed. He leaned forward and let gravity take him down, the first tears splashing on his pillow a split-second before his face landed on it.

"What's wrong with me?" he thought to himself. "Why doesn't anybody want me?" The memory of a man with his hair and eyes walking out his front door for the last time surfaced and the emotions it brought melded with the ones he felt now. He couldn't work out which person leaving had hurt more. He kept thinking back to that stupid argument he'd had with his soulmate, fuelled by pride and the euphoria of a good comeback. Was that what had tipped the scales? Was that the reason his soulmate didn't want him? He rolled over to face his bedside cupboard, where a can of hairspray and two handheld mirrors sat. He debated with himself for a few minutes, before making a decision. He needed to know.

He grabbed the can and a mirror and began to write a short message, something he'd become quite good at doing himself. The blue writing read "is this my fault" when he finished. He wasn't sure if he'd get a reply, but he had to try.

He sat there for almost thirty minutes, handheld mirrors rotating around his head, so he could check every possible angle of hair. Finally, he felt the familiar tingle in his scalp of something being transferred to his hair. He moved his mirrors around until he finally found what he was looking for. On the right-hand side of his head was a reply; two letter which simultaneously built-up and destroyed the hope he held for fixing this mess. Two letters which broke his heart just a little more.

"No."

#

 **So remember when I said I was going to upload this within two weeks… yeah me neither. I apologise, life has been really busy and kinda crappy and that's kinda been reflected in this chapter. It was originally meant to just be a filler but instead it's become an important piece in the progression of the story. From here, time skips will start to occur, so I apologise for those who don't like them, but the story wouldn't progress without them.**

 **Thank you again to all the reviewers, you're probably the reason I got this chapter out this early. And thank you to everyone who's put up with me and my sporadic uploads, I won't promise another expected time frame because look how well that went last time. Plus uni starts again this week for me (I'm Australian) so my time shall go out the window. But I know where I'm going with the next chapter, plus I'll need to procrastinate any and all homework I have, so who knows. Stranger things have happened.**


	8. Dam jokes need a specific audience

"No Annabeth, we're not going to think about them. We're going to enjoy ourselves and that's that," Annabeth thought to herself. She waved to her friends as she walked past the café window. A small bell chimed as she entered the store and she sighed with relief as the air-conditioned room fought off the raging July heat. She strode purposefully as always towards the familiar booth as Hazel stood up.

"Happy birthday Annabeth!" she cried as she wrapped the blonde up in a hug, though it felt a little stiffer than usual. Their other friends all chorused the greeting and Annabeth couldn't help but smile.

"I'm getting soft," thought Annabeth as she returned the gesture, "a year ago I would never have even dreamed of hugging someone." The thought made her happy. She still had her tough exterior, and there wasn't anyone in her grade she couldn't judo flip, but she had to admit, letting Hazel into her life and innermost thoughts was one of the greatest decisions of her life. Besides, trying to say no to a Hazel and her big, golden eyes was like trying to say no to a puppy.

"At least she's not as bad as a baby seal," she mumbled.

"What?" Jason said with a quizzical smile.

Annabeth waved him away and tried to hide her blush, "Nothing Jase, thinking aloud apparently."

"ADHD sure is fun isn't it?" he said with a laugh.

"That's one way of putting it," she huffed. "Now, give me my free birthday milkshake Superman."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Chase," he smiled fondly as he slid the drink he'd ordered whilst they waited for her to arrive across the table to her.

"So, what did you get for your birthday Annabeth?" asked Gwen.

Annabeth looked down at her lap and hesitated, "Um-"

"It doesn't matter what she got," said Jason with a glance in her direction, "what we got you is so much better. Especially mine."

"No way Grace. Your gift will be the first one in the trash when she sees mine," said Reyna, going along with Jason's change in subject. Annabeth was grateful for that. They all had strained relationships with their parents, which she believed was a major factor in why they had bonded together so easily.

"Open mine first," said Dakota, handing her a gift wrapped unevenly in red paper. His hand shook as he took it back and he reached for his glass of Kool-Aid to take a sip. Whilst he may have been the least close to her, she still worried about his reliance on the drink.

His gift was a simple box of chocolates, but Annabeth appreciated it nonetheless. Gwen's present was next – a tourist t-shirt from the Hoover Dam with a collection of facts about it displayed across the front and back. "I got it when I went there in April. It was a _dam_ pain trying to find your size." Gwen looked to her friends around the table, hoping for a reaction to her joke.

Jason winced and patted her hand, "Gwen, we love you, but that was bad."

"Yeah puns definitely aren't your thing hun," said Hazel.

"Plus the delivery was a little off," continued Reyna.

"Maybe try a New Yorker accent, I feel like New Yorkers could make dam puns work," Dakota added.

"You know, I can see that," said Jason. The table all chorused their agreement except Gwen, who stared at them as if they'd all gone mad.

"Is no one going to question why he thinks a New Yorker could make dam puns but I can't?" she cried.

"No," said Annabeth, "it just makes perfect sense."

Dakota snorted and the façade was broken. The friends all laughed loudly, ignoring the dirty looks they received from three elderly ladies knitting on the other side of the room.

"My present next," said Reyna as she handed Annabeth a precisely wrapped gift, with all the stripes of the paper lined up perfectly. When Dakota noticed the wrapping, he groaned and pulled out a twenty dollar note and slapped it in Jason's outstretched hand.

"I bet Dakota that if you used lined paper, not a single line would be out of place by even a millimetre," he announced in reply to Reyna's raised eyebrow.

Gwen hit Dakota across the back of the head, "How dumb can you get?"

"Ow! No one can get _all_ the lines perfect, that's just not possible!"

"It's _Reyna_! Anything's possible with her!"

"Can you just open the present please? They won't stop until you do," sighed Reyna.

Annabeth nodded and began meticulously pulling apart the wrapping paper to reveal a large book titled _Architecture: Form, Space and Order_.

"You're always taking that book out of the library, I thought maybe you'd like your own copy," Reyna stated simply. Annabeth stared at her in amazement. Whilst her passion for architecture mightn't be a secret, she knew her friends had no care for it and therefore assumed they took no notice.

Jason smirked, "It might be the most boring topic on Earth, but it matters to you, so we take notice."

"Thanks you guys," Annabeth said softly, looking from Reyna to Jason.

"Any time Chase," said Jason, whilst Reyna simply nodded.

Annabeth smiled before continuing, "So who's next?"

"Subtle Annabeth, subtle," Jason said grinned.

"Leave her alone Jason, there was obviously too much emotion going on here," said Dakoda.

Annabeth kicked him from under the table, "Shut up Dakoda. We had our moment, it was time to move on. There's nothing wrong with that." She made sure to add in a glare as she said this.

"O-of course, yes, quite right. Continue. Jason, it's your turn, right?" pleaded Dakoda.

"No way, Hazel you better go. I don't want you to be embarrassed by following up my gift," Jason replied, puffing his chest out as far as possible to make sure she knew he was joking.

Annabeth noticed Reyna smirking and she looked at her suspiciously. "She knows something," she thought to herself.

"Um, alright then," the Hazel mumbled, pulling out a wrapped cylinder. As Annabeth unwrapped it, she continued, "I'm sorry it's not much, I d-don't exactly have any money so I couldn't get much and I know that's not fair on you because the other's were able to buy you really great gifts but it's just not really possible with my mum and –" her ramblings were stopped by a hand placed on top of her own tightly wrung fingers. She followed the arm up to see Annabeth smiling calmly at her.

"Hey, it's okay Hazel. I'm sure whatever it is, I'll love it. The fact that you even got me something and that you're here with me is more than enough." She tried to ignore the pervasive thoughts reminding her of who hadn't gotten her anything and who wasn't there.

Hazel flushed, "Um, okay then. Still, I'm sorry."

"Hazel it's okay, you don't need to apologise, you've done nothing wrong." Annabeth made sure to word her sentence correctly. They'd all noticed Hazel's tendency to apologise a lot, as if she was scared of doing the wrong thing or disappointing someone all the time. It'd taken them a while, but they figured out that Hazel responded better if she was told there was no need to apologise and that she'd done nothing wrong, rather than simply telling her to stop being sorry or 'don't say sorry'. Annabeth wasn't really sure whether it was just a quirk of Hazel or if something was causing it, but she'd made sure to be careful when Reyna discussed it with them once she'd noticed it.

"Okay then, if you're sure…" the younger girl said, still displaying a distinct lack of confidence.

"Positive. Now let's see what we've got here." Annabeth pulled the last of the paper off to reveal a poster tube. She pulled one of the ends off and withdrew a piece of A3 paper rolled up. She leaned the tube against her chair and unrolled it to produce a drawing of the New York skyline. Annabeth was dumbfounded. Whilst she could pick out small imperfections thanks to years of studying it through her love of architecture, it was still a magnificent piece of artwork. The more she looked, the more she was amazed. Then, she noticed an obvious difference between this picture and the real thing. She turned to Hazel, "Did you draw this?"

The girl blushed deeply, "Um, yeah, kinda. Reyna helped me get the pictures of the skyline and your building and stuff. It's not really drawing, more like copying and –"

"Why did you add in my design?" she cut her off. Annabeth didn't mean for it to come out like it did, she was in shock, for in addition to the New York skyline was obviously one of her buildings she'd designed in her architecture sketchbook. Hazel had created her dream on the page with a few masterful strokes of a pencil.

Hazel looked panicked and she squeezed her hands tightly together, "I thought… I thought I could draw it into the skyline for you because you always say that one day you're going to have one of your buildings in New York and it's going to last 1000 years and so I thought maybe you'd like to see what that'd be like so you could have something to strive for… I'm sorry, it was stupid, I shouldn't have done it, I'll just get rid of –" Hazel reached for the picture, tears building in her eyes, but Annabeth stopped her with a hug. All the faces on the table matched the shock Annabeth felt; she never initiated hugs, but this was the only way she could express how she was feeling.

"I love it, thank you," she whispered into Hazel's ear, voice thick with emotion. She pulled away and stared at the picture again.

"Well, don't be selfish! Share with the class," said Gwen, and the blonde proudly turned the artwork for the others to see. They all gushed over the thoughtful gift and Hazel beamed with pride.

"Are you sure it's okay?" she asked Annabeth.

"It's more than I could have ever dreamed of," she replied enthusiastically, and the African-American breathed a sigh of relief, seemingly relaxing for the first time since Annabeth had arrived.

"Okay Jason, let's see this present that's going to blow all of ours out the water," Reyna said smugly.

Jason's face fell, "I didn't say everyone's!"

"Just Hazel's, wasn't it?" added Annabeth innocently.

"And I do believe Annabeth said hers was more than she could dream of. That's a tough thing to beat Jason," Gwen continued.

"Produce the goods Grace," Hazel said nervously. Gwen and Dakoda whooped loudly and Reyna and Annabeth both chuckled. Jason stared at Hazel with disbelief.

"Little Hazel is finally joining in with the banter! Annabeth why didn't you have your birthday earlier? This is the greatest day of my life!" howled Dakoda. "Little Hazel, shutting up Jason Grace, I never thought I'd see the day."

The whole table laughed at this, and Jason shook his head in disbelief. "I guess I deserved that, didn't I?" he said with a breathy laugh.

"Definitely," replied Annabeth and Reyna in sync.

"Well unfortunately I'm no Picasso, so you'll just have to make do with this." He handed a gift to Annabeth, which she promptly unwrapped to find another book and a small box. She looked at the book first, which was a guide to learning both Ancient and Modern Greek. "We know you've got a love for Greek architecture, so I figured you're going to want to go to Greece at some stage in your life to drool over the pretty buildings or whatever. This means you don't have to rely on English to get you through. Plus it has a download link to the audiobook, so you don't have to put up with your dyslexia if you don't want to."

Annabeth was once again amazed at the observation skills of her friends. She'd always been good at reading people, but she never thought she'd be this open to others. She wasn't sure whether to feel grateful or vulnerable. "Thank you Jason, that's perfect. Not quite Hazel's picture perfect, but pretty close," she said cheekily, trying to cover up some of the emotion she was feeling with a joke.

"No worries Annabeth," he replied, "now open the next one."

"I wonder what this could be," she said sarcastically.

"Wait, you know what your present is?" said Hazel.

"I don't know exactly, but I know it's a clay bead with some sort of intricate pattern carved into it."

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"It was something we've done since we were seven. Annabeth ran away from home and was missing for a few days. The police found her and brought her home, but I remember feeling so scared that I was going to lose my best friend and that she'd forget who I was," said Jason sombrely. "So I bought her a necklace with a clay bead saying best friends on it, so she knew that if she ever left again, she'd always have me as her best friend. Every year since then, I've added a new bead to it, with some sort of engraving to represent the last twelve months of our friendship."

"That's officially the most adorable story I've ever heard!" Hazel gushed, "How have I never seen this?"

"Octavian broke it once in fifth grade, and since then I've been too scared to wear it anywhere in case it broke again and I lost a bead," answered Annabeth. "So I hang it up on the head of my bed."

"Why is it that whenever something is ruined, Octavian is always involved," noted Gwen dryly.

"It truly is a mystery," Dakoda added sarcastically.

Annabeth rolled her eyes at their antics, before lifting the lid off the box to reveal the bead. The face Annabeth could see looked like grass with a rainbow running through it. She raised an eyebrow to Jason.

"Look I know you don't like it, but you have a soulmate now. This is to commemorate that," he said uncomfortably.

Annabeth couldn't hide her disappointment. "Thanks, Jason," she said dejectedly, "but why rainbow grass?"

"It's seaweed, since you called him Seaweed Brain. And rainbow for the different colours you dyed each other's hair."

"Him?"

"Them! Them, sorry," Jason yelled, eyes wide like a deer in headlights, Annabeth eyed him carefully. "Flip the bead over," he continued quickly.

She did as she was told. On the opposite side to the engraved side was a second symbol, this one a simple letter H in gold. Annabeth smiled, _this_ was more like it. "A gold H for Hazel I assume? I can't help but notice it's the same colour as her eyes."

"What?" Hazel squeaked, blushing profusely. "Why am I on the bead?"

"You're the most important thing to happen to our group this year Hazel. And that's including Annabeth's soulmate. 'Cause let's face it, at least we still talk to you," he added this last note with a cheeky grin, and Annabeth just scowled at him. Whilst it was never officially stated, the group knew better than to mention Annabeth's soulmate. It had been months since they gave up trying to contact Annabeth, something she was very grateful for. Though she still woke up with coloured hair once every few weeks, and she can't be certain whether they like to change their hair colour or if it was done out of spite. She couldn't blame them either way.

"But…"

"No buts Hazel, Jason's right. I was expecting to see something about you on here."

"I think I'm gonna cry," sniffed Hazel.

"Great job Jason, you've upset Hazel. How dare you!" cried Gwen, hugging Hazel close and putting herself between Jason and the sniffling girl.

"I di-"

"I said _how dare you!_ " Gwen cut him off. Jason just shook his head.

"I really love you guys, you know that right?" said Hazel.

"Oh geez, now you're gonna make _me_ cry," laughed Gwen. "We love you too sweetie." The others nodded in agreement.

"I think this is my favourite bead so far Jason. It commemorates the good and the bad of this past year. Thank you," said Annabeth, a lot more sincerely than her first expression of gratitude. "But who did you get this made by? It looks different to the previous ones."

"Do you remember Leo Valdez?"

"Scrawny little elf boy? Lived in the orphanage didn't he?"

"That's the one. Well you know how I was pretty tight with him?" Annabeth nodded. "Well we kept in touch ever since he moved to Indianapolis. He has two mums now and a sister, lovely family apparently. And a workshop as well so he's in heaven. But that's beside the point. Anyway, I was talking to him about the bead thing, trying to brainstorm ideas and he designed it. Said he could make it with the help of his mum and mailed it to me afterwards."

"Wow… to think Valdez made _that_. I'm impressed," commented Reyna.

"He might be a total goof sometimes, but that boy was always smarter than all of us. Present company excluded of course," he added quickly, pointing to Annabeth. "Plus he was a wizard with his hands."

"You experience that Grace? Learned how good those hands were?" Dakota said with a sly smirk.

"Oh gosh," said Hazel, fanning her face as she flushed with embarrassment. "Dakota!"

"Hazel's going to get whiplash with all the emotions she's gone through today," joked Gwen.

"Maybe we should head off before it get's any worse?" said Annabeth.

"Oh gods," moaned Dakota. "I forgot we have to do whatever Annabeth says for the rest of the day. I don't know if I can last through another tour of architectural history of the city."

"Rules are rules Grace. She's the birthday girl, what she says goes," said Reyna.

"I knowwwwww. But we made that rule close to my birthday, it made perfect sense then."

"We have to make a stop before we begin the day," said Annabeth.

"Where to milady?" said Jason, standing and offering her a hand.

Annabeth brushed it off and stop up by herself. "Dork," she deadpanned. "I have a shop I need to visit first."

"Please Zeus, take mercy on me. Strike me where I stand," Dakota muttered. Gwen grabbed him by the ear.

"Come on you, shut up and put up with it," she said.

"Exactly. Now come on, you're on gift carrying duties for your whining," said Annabeth, before walking away.

The six friends exited the café, Annabeth striding purposefully in the lead. They walked the four blocks until they reached a small store they'd never been to before.

"Underglass Custom Picture Framing?" questioned Jason.

"You don't think I'm going to let anything happen to Hazel's picture do you? I'm hanging that on my wall so it needs to be protected and look pretty too. Come on, you're buying." Annabeth didn't like to abuse Jason's easy access to money like he did, but this was a special occasion.

"Annabeth, you don't have to do that. It's not that good," said Hazel.

"Of course I do. I want that picture to last forever. Besides, I'm not doing it, Jason is. Now come on! Time's a-wasting and I still have an architecture tour to take you guys on." With that, she entered the store without waiting for her friends.

"You know, something tells me she liked the gift Haze," said Dakota. The group all laughed, and Hazel wiped away a few tears.

"Yeah, I guess she did," she said.

#

"I guess this is your life now Percy," he said to the mirror, "just suck it up. Don't ruin Piper's day. You've got this." He let out a deep sigh before turning off the tap and walking back to the lounge room.

Piper lifted the blanket she was currently curled under without taking her eyes off the tv so he could slide underneath it with her. They were having a movie marathon day and Percy knew she was excited to be spending a whole day (and no doubt the night) at their house, something she'd sorely missed in previous summers. She slowly chewed her cookie, completely enraptured by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban despite how many times she'd watched the movie. Personally, Percy wasn't a super fan of the series, but watching her silently mouth the words subconsciously always made him feel happy, so he never argued too much when she suggested it. Besides, it was Piper's turn to pick the marathon theme anyway. He snuggled in close to her and stole the cookie she was raising to her mouth.

"Hey! That was mine!"

"And I thank you for your donation," he replied cheekily. Piper just rolled her eyes at him and grabbed another from the plate. "What do you think Jason would think about this Pipes?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, us cuddling under a blanket, having a movie date and all that jazz. Do you think he'd be jealous?"

"Maybe a little. I think he'd be more jealous of the fact that he doesn't have the chance to be here, you know? Like he wouldn't be jealous of you in the sense of 'he's making a move', more jealous of 'he gets a chance to spend time with her and I don't', you know what I mean? Jason's just a big baby."

"You ever tell him that?"

"Of course I do! Gotta make sure he knows who's boss, just like you," she said with a smile and a nudge of her shoulder.

"Excuse you, you're not the boss! _Obviously_ I'm the main character here," he said indignantly.

"Hey, could you please get me a drink?"

"Sure thing, do you want another glass of juice or – hey! That doesn't count! You're just taking advantage of my manners!"

"What can I say, Mama Jackson raised a great slave."

"You're not a guest anymore Piper, you're family. That means I don't have to get anything for you so ner!"

Piper watched him for a few seconds, "You're still gonna get it, aren't you?" she said with a laugh.

"It's just so rude if you don't!" Percy whined as he plodded to the kitchen to fill her glass. He grabbed a bag of Doritos whilst he was there and threw them across the kitchen bench to Piper, hitting her in the shoulder.

She yelped before realising what was going on, "Oh, thanks babe."

"No worries sweetheart!" he yelled back and then he started sobbing. Piper looked up in shock before sprinting to her best friend's side and hugging him tightly.

"Hey hey hey, what's wrong Perce?" she asked.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong. These are happy tears," he muttered angrily.

"That doesn't sound happy," she said worriedly, bending down to look him in the eyes. "Should I get Sally?"

"No! No, it's okay. Look, everything's fine. I'm not crying at all now, see?" He was right, as quickly as he had started, he'd stopped his crying.

"What? Percy, what's wrong?"

"Piper, it's nothing, I'm fine. I promise."

"Percy, that was not someone who's fine."

"I'm fine Piper!" he yelled, and Piper flinched back in surprise. Percy felt awful, he never yelled at his friends, especially not Piper.

"Kids, is everything okay out there?" called Sally worriedly from her room.

Percy quickly responded before Piper could, "Everything's fine Mum, just a joke that went a little too far! Go back to your studying!"

"You be nice to my daughter Percy, don't make me come out there!"

Piper and Percy both smiled at this despite themselves.

"Yes Mum!" he yelled back, before looking seriously at Piper. "It's my soulmate," he said quietly.

"What about them? Are you still hurting about how things ended, or is this something else?"

"It's something else. I mean yeah I'm still hurting, but that doesn't have anything to do with this. Well it does, but it doesn't. Does that make sense?"

"Since I have no idea what you're talking about, no," she said with a small laugh. "Come on," she grabbed his hand and pulled him back to the couch, "talk to me Perce."

They snuggled under the blanket again and Percy pushed himself tightly into her side. She held his hand and lightly rubbed her thumb against his to comfort him.

"I sometimes feel things from my soulmate. Usually it's a feeling or an emotion or something, but not always. I might feel the brush of a shoulder or a hand running through my hair. That's always the strongest, anything to do with hair. But anyway, before, obviously my something made my soulmate so happy they wanted to cry."

"Oh my gods Percy, I'm so sorry," Piper whispered quietly.

"I wouldn't care if they were just a regular soulmate, you know? But it's so frustrating when I just want to punch Grover in the face for five seconds when he hasn't done anything, just because of some stupid person who doesn't even want to talk to me!"

"Is that why you were so happy when Dodds set that pop quiz?"

"Exactly, do you know how embarrassing it is to cheer for that?"

"Dude, I was embarrassed to know you."

Percy smiled a little and huffed some air to make a small laugh.

"Why don't we put on Finding Nemo?" Piper continued.

"What? No Piper. It's your turn to pick the movies. It's okay, I'm okay."

"Well I pick Finding Nemo," she said with a challenging glint in her eyes.

Percy rolled his own, "Thank you, but that's not necessary Piper. I'm seriously okay. This is your movie day, we'll watch your stupid movies.

"I'm going to ignore that you said that because you're obviously an emotional wreck right now."

"Oh shut up dork. I'm going to explain what happened to Mum."

"She knows?"

"Yeah."

"What about Grover?"

"Not yet, it's a bit hard when all he wants to talk about is camp and Juniper."

"Ugh I know! How did he get so lucky to actually meet his soulmate when before he's fourteen! That's like a 1 in a million chance! I'm so jealous."

" _You're_ jealous?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry Percy, I didn't even think."

Percy laughed, "It's fine Piper. You can say stuff like that. I know my situation sucks, but you don't have to change for me alright?"

"But –"

" _Alright_?"

"Alright Perce."

"Thank you. Now you keep my spot warm, I'll be back in a minute."

"No promises."

"Love you too!" He padded his way to his mother's room, lightly rapping his knuckles on her door.

"Come in," she said sweetly.

"Hey Mum," Percy said quietly.

Sally looked up from the textbook she was reading for her online writing classes she'd just started, "So Piper knows?"

"Yeah, she does."

Sally placed her book down and patted her bed next to her, "Come here baby." He sat down and she put her arms around him, where he huddled into his mother's warm embrace. "Would you like my laptop?"

"Not if you need it for your homework."

"This is a little more important than homework. Besides, I'll just write down what readings I need to do, then I can get started on that bathroom of ours. It's well overdue for a clean."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to not get your homework done."

"Why is homework so important when I do it, but when I tell you to get yours done you'll find every excuse under the sun to avoid it? Hmmmmm," she looked at him pointedly.

"Obviously because it's yours and you're the most important thing in my life."

"Yeah alright, very smooth there Casanova. Just take the laptop and get back out to Piper. Your friend is over and you're hiding in your mother's room. Do you know how wrong that is?"

Percy rolled his eyes and gave her a peck on the cheek, "Thanks Mum."

"Any time sweetie, now scram! Mama's got to read about the definition of a short story here."

Percy jumped down from the bed and grabbed her computer, walking towards the door. "You could always get me my own laptop, then I wouldn't need to steal yours," he said innocently.

"You could also start cleaning your room more often," she said, peering at him over her glasses.

"You know, one laptop is fine. No need to spend unnecessary amounts of money," he replied as if this was the single greatest idea he'd ever come up with.

"That's what I thought," Percy heard her mutter as he shut her door. He made his way back to the couch, once again making himself comfortable under the covers with Piper. She looked across at him.

"What do you have that out for? Percy we're meant to be having a movie day together!" she whined.

"I know, and I promise I'll give you my full attention in a minute, but there's something that I need to do first."

"Oh?" she asked.

Percy launched the web browser and clicked on a bookmark, launching a now familiar webpage.

"Soul Mates?" asked Piper, looking over his shoulder.

"Yeah, it's a great website. It has a few features. Some people come here looking for their soulmate, some need advice and others just need to vent. There are forums for people to post cute stuff or sad stories or anything like that."

"Oh that's cool! Why isn't that advertised to us at school, that would be amazing for so many people to find their soulmate."

"Piper, you know searching isn't allowed," Percy muttered.

"I mean, it's not _not_ allowed, it's just frowned upon," she pointed out.

"I mean… I guess… still, I think that's the main reason. Plus there are people who have taken advantage of kids looking for soulmates. There's a whole article about it they make you read before you sign up."

"That's awful! Why are you – 'I did my waiting! Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!' – sorry, that quote never gets old. But why are you on there?"

"You really need to work on your accents there Piper. But I was looking for a place to just… let all my feelings go about my soulmate. And so I ended up here. I posted my story and I got some replies on it which weren't very helpful."

"Why didn't you come to me?"

"It was right around the time your dad started that new movie, so you weren't exactly in the greatest state of mind. Plus I was hoping to maybe get in touch with someone who… understood, I guess, what it feels like. To be rejected by your soulmate, you know?"

"I guess, but still. You can always come to me Percy, you know that right? You don't have to shut me out again."

Percy gazed softly at the girl next to him. He could see the underlying fear in her posture, the way she fidgeted with her hands and licked her lips. He could hear, no matter how hard she tried to hide it, how she was legitimately scared.

"Don't worry Piper, I'm not gonna shut you out again, you're stuck with me from now on, no matter what." He watched her shoulders slump slightly in relief.

"Good. If I only had Grover I'd never have any fun! _Don't do that Piper, be the better person Piper, fire_ hurts _people Piper_. Bah, can you imagine that? I might actually _do_ my homework if I was stuck alone with him forever."

Percy decided not to mention what he noticed and let her joke away the intensity of the conversation. " _Anyway_ , this guy messaged me about it privately and we just started chatting." He clicked on his messages and opened up the chat log with the user Beckendorf9. He began typing out what had happened that day.

"Does this," Piper took a few seconds to work out what was written on the screen with her dyslexia, "Beckendorf?" she peered at Percy for confirmation that she'd go it right and he nodded. "Only talk to you about soulmate stuff?"

"Nah we've become pretty good friends outside of that. He lives in San Francisco and loves basketball too so we talk about it a lot. Apparently his soulmate can be pretty full on sometimes so he comes to me to talk about that too. Turns out I'm the first person he's tried to help who actually asked him about himself. He's pretty cool to chat to."

"Awwww, Percy has a crush," cooed Piper.

"You know, that's what Beck's soulmate said to him about me. Maybe you two are related?"

"Yeah okay, you caught me, I'm secretly sisters with your crushes soulmate."

"Stranger things have happened," Percy said cryptically.

"Oh whatever, just write your stupid love letter."

Percy just rolled his eyes and finished typing the message. He didn't think Beckendorf would be on, he'd be working at the workshop by now. He'd have to check back later to see if he replied after work. He closed the laptop and took it back to his mother's room, before poking his head into the bathroom to tell her he was done with it.

"Thanks for that Mum."

"Are you done with the laptop?" Sally asked.

"Yeah, Beck's at work so he won't reply for a while."

"Could you bring it into here for me, this cleaning business is boring without some good music to listen to."

"Sure thing." He ran back to grab the laptop and booted it up once more and leaving it sitting next to the hand basin for his mum to use when she was ready. As he sat back down on the couch, his best friend mouthing the words to the last scene of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and his mother singing a duet with Led Zepplin, he decided that today might actually be a good day.

#

 **So I have to apologise for the fact that this a lot of words but doesn't really achieve much except be a fluffy filler chapter, but it was pretty fun to write, especially the little inside jokes from the fandom. The next chapter will start to drive the plot a little more hopefully, this was just here to set up a few things that are to come. I've got to give a huge shout out to all the reviewers, especially to procrastinatingmuchroomfangirl for the fun little quote from my story and Maddie Chapman because I think "I've been hit… repeatedly… with a telephone pole" is the single greatest compliment I've ever received about my writing XD. The next chapter is planned but with 7 assignments due in 3 weeks for uni it probably won't be for a month sorry :/**


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